ICHIGO'S APPRENTICE
by CrimsonMercenary
Summary: After the death of a dear friend, Ichigo chooses to take Tatsuki under his wing and train her to be a powerful Shingami. The two band together, alongside the rest of the Soul Society to avenge their friend and battle against a terrible evil that not even the gates of Hell could keep back.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**_ I don't own Bleach. This story is an original idea, and one I hope makes for a great plot! If you're reading please take a moment after this chapter, or any to follow, and drop me a review letting me know what you think. Thank you, and enjoy!_

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**ICHIGO'S APPRENTICE **

**Chapter 1**

It was the dead of night in Karakura Town. Things were so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. For one human in particular, this would be the last night of her normal existence. From this point on, nothing would ever be the same. Had she known this prior to the events, she would have maybe treasured the moments she had with her best friend more.

Tatsuki Arisawa exited her karate dojo after a late night training session. The black haired and blue haired tomboy was promptly greeted by her best friend in the entire world, Orihime Inoue. It was cold outside, but there wasn't a temperature low enough that could chill the warmth in Tatsuki's heart when she was around Orihime.

"Tatsuki!" Orihime exclaimed as she rushed towards the martial artist with arms wide open. The very well-endowed girl with long red hair and big brown eyes embraced her friend with a massive hug, holding her as if the two hadn't seen each other in years. In reality, they went out for ice cream yesterday afternoon. "Oh Tatsuki it's so good to see you! You know, I got a little worried when you were a little late and then I started thinking, "Oh no what if Tatsuki got seriously injured in her training session", but then I remembered how amazing you are and how nobody can beat you so I was comforted and that's when you came out, and here you are!"

"You're so gentle." Tatsuki said with a sigh, as she patted Orihime's back softly, slightly upset that she made her best friend worry. "I just stayed after with my sensei learning a few new moves. It was nothing. Now, did you want to go see that movie?"

"Oh yes!" Orihime spoke enthusiastically as the two seventeen year old girls walked down the street towards the theatre. "I think you'll really like this movie! It's about a killer beaver who is on the run from the rest of the forest creatures who are trying to bring him to justice when suddenly he meets a female raccoon and falls in love with her, which is what he needs to start changing his ways. But the problem is the rest of the forest creatures want to take him out so they kidnap the raccoon and…"

Orihime's long winded excited explanation of the children's movie stopped abruptly as her carefree fun expression changed to a serious and concerned one as she quickly turned around and looked up towards the horizon. Tatsuki also felt a twinge in her stomach, as if something nasty was present and she turned and looked down the street as well.

"What is that?" Tatsuki asked, not knowing what this feeling was that she was having.

"You feel it too?" Orihime asked, "I don't know…but it doesn't feel good at all."

Suddenly there was a gust of wind that the two girls felt on their face and in front of them stood a man. He had spikey purple hair, dark bright red eyes and he wore a crimson scarf that covered his mouth and was dressed with a dark blue tunic and black pants. At his side he had a sword, which Orihime quickly recognized was a Zanpakuto.

"Are you…" Orihime asked slowly and carefully, "Are you from the soul society?

The man's face had a malicious grin as he responded while drawing his blade. "Not quite."

"Orihime watch out!" Tatsuki grabbed her best friend's arm and tried to pull her back. "He's got a sword, it's not safe here!"

"Stand back, Tatsuki!" Orihime spoke, as she looked at her friend with more seriousness in her eyes then Tatsuki had ever witnessed. "I'll protect you!"

And with great force, for the first time in her life, Orihime pushed Tatsuki back. The girl who was the second greatest martial arts warrior in Japan fell to the ground and hit the wall of a nearby building. After recovering quickly from the pain Tatsuki sat and watched in shock as Orihime touched the side of her head with a finger.

Suddenly the unknown assailant swung his blade towards Orihime, but a bright orange triangular energy shield appeared in front of her that deflected the blade. The purple haired man jumped back as the shield dissipated. Tatsuki was confused, did Orihime _create_ that energy shield? When could she ever do that?

The action didn't stop there. Suddenly, with her hand still close to her head Orihime closed her eyes and muttered the words, "I reject" as two yellow beams of light appeared in the air and zigzagged towards the sworded warrior. With great speed the man deflected both beams and Tatsuki watched as two miniature fairylike creatures fell from the air. Who were they, she wondered?

"Run like the wind, Osafu!" The man spoke, as his blade transformed appearance from a typical sword to one with the hilt of a gun, and a much sharper looking blade. His entire body was now surrounded with wind.

"Tatsuki run!" Orihime turned and yelled to her best friend, her voice full of panic. Tatsuki tried to get up to pull the orange haired girl with her as she escaped, but her body couldn't move.

"I will have to finish this quickly!" The man spoke as power radiated through his body.

There was no warning, no threat, and no dialogue to prepare Tatsuki what she saw next. In the movies, you see a flashback of memories, and you have an hour or so to prepare for the death of a major character. In life, it just happens with time for you to be prepared. If she was honest with herself, there isn't enough time on earth that would have prepared Tatsuki Arisawa for this terrible moment.

The man's blade detached from the gun hilt and was held together by a long chain. The blade zoomed forward light a lightning bolt and went straight through Orihime's chest. The sweet girl gasped in pain, as blood spewed out of her mouth and her body as she fell back and hit the pavement. There were no last words, no good byes…Orihime laid on the ground motionless, her lifeless head turned staring towards her best friend.

Tatsuki screamed in agony as her eyes filled with tears. Her body begun to radiate with red energy as she was slowly able to stand up and push through whatever pressure was holding her back. She didn't know what it was she was feeling. Perhaps the word was, rage? Tatsuki's rage was giving her energy to push past the force this man generated to keep her at bay. Before she could rush towards her best friend's murderer, there was another flash and before her eyes stood another man with orange hair, odd black garb, and a long black blade.

Tatsuki couldn't believe her eyes as she recognized the man as Ichigo Kurosaki, another friend of hers and Orihime.

"You bastard…" Ichigo yelled at the mysterious assassin as he noticed the lifeless body in front of him, "What the hell did Orihime do to you? How could you kill her like that out of cold blood! You will pay!"

Ichigo moved quicker then Tatsuki could even see to clash blades with the evil man. The two's swords clanged against each other as they flew in a circle above the street. Each moving at incredible speeds, there was no exclamation for what Tatsuki was witnessing. She ran to Orihime's corpse and convinced herself that her best friend wasn't dead.

"Orihime get up!" She yelled as she shook the body, "Get up, we have to get out of her!"

The body was lifeless.

"Come on Orihime!" Tatsuki shouted, tears falling from her eyes, "I need you, don't leave me!"

The body was still lifeless.

Tatsuki wailed in misery as her head fell and the tears became uncontrollable. Meanwhile in the sky the battle stopped as the mysterious man found himself out of breath. His mission was not yet complete. He looked down at the girls body whose life he just took. _IT_ was still inside the body. While one hand held his blade, Osafu, the other hand was covered in a mystical gauntlet with strange powers. He reached out his hand and focused his spiritual energy. The gauntlet begun to surround itself with a black aura. Ichigo stopped his assault, having no idea what was going on.

Back on the ground Tatsuki felt Orihime's body become very warm as it began to be surrounded by dark red light and float into the sky.

"The body of this girl is of no consequence to me!" The man yelled at Ichigo and Tatsuki, "What I desire is inside."

The two gasped as a large hole tore from the inside of Orhime's body. Blood squirted out of the lifeless corpse and inside the pool of blood the two humans noticed a blood red stone that flew into the gauntleted hand of the assassin. He smiled and looked back at Ichigo.

"You're the substitute soul reaper aren't you?" He spoke to Ichigo, "The one who stopped Aizen, the bounts, and even brought the soul society to its feet at one point to save just one girl."

"I am." Ichigo spoke, his eyes filled with hatred, "But none of that is going to compare to what I am going to do to you."

"I'm sorry," he said with a cocky grin, "But not even you will be able to stop what is about to happen next. I must leave, but I am sure we will meet again."

"You're not going anywhere!" Ichigo screamed as he rush towards his enemy.

"Bankai!" The masked man spoke as he held his blade to the air. Ichigo suddenly stopped as he man's body was covered in powerful wind that swirled around his body.

And within a matter of seconds, the assassin was gone and left no trace. Orhime's body fell to the ground and Ichigo flash stepped to under it and caught his dead friend, a tear falling from his eye now. He turned and looked at Tatsuki who had fainted from emotional exhaustion. In the past, when she witnessed things like this, Ichigo was able to leave her and take care of the supernatural problem and assume it wouldn't impact his friend at all. This time was different for two reasons. First, this was the loss of Orihime they were dealing with. Ichigo knew he couldn't hide this from Tatsuki. Second, and much more strange, the immense spiritual pressure he felt that led him to this location…Ichigo was certain it wasn't the murderer, it definitely came from Tatsuki. Who was she that she had such unspeakable power? It was only for an instant, but for a moment Ichigo felt power that rivaled even that of the power he experienced when dealing with Aizen.

Ichigo sighed as he picked up both bodies and prepared to run to a safe spot with the girls. He hated himself for failing Orihime, but now it was time for him to be there for Tatsuki. The night was over, but this nightmare that begun this evening was far from ending.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Tatsuki woke up in a small house that she did not recognize. She quickly hopped up from the covers that she laid in and surveyed where she was. A green floor, wooden edo style walls with a door built into it. To her right, there was a tray with some food. How did she get here? This didn't seem like a dangerous spot. Tatsuki thought for a moment to recall what happened last.

"_Orihime!" _She remembered now. The assassin, the power, all the blood…and Ichigo?

Tatsuki fell to her knees tears once again filling her eyes as she struggled to understand what happened. Why would anyone want to hurt someone as sweet and perfect as Orihime? And so ruthlessly, with no explanation whatsoever. Tatsuki felt so angry, hurt, and most significantly, broken. It made absolutely no sense to her why her best friend was murdered. This whole tragic ordeal seemed like a nightmare that Tatsuki couldn't wake up from.

"Tatsuki…" The door slid open and Tatsuki's eyes lifted up to see the person who entered the doorway and spoke to her. It was Ichigo Kurosaki. He had a depressed expression and long face, it was evident that he was grieving too from this unjust turn of events.

"Ichigo…" Tatsuki spoke through sobs, and then was filled with rage towards her friend. "Ichigo….It's your fault!"

The girl with short black hair jumped up and lunged towards Ichigo and punched him square in the face. He didn't move, flinch, or even react. Tatsuki didn't care, she still was boiling with anger and screamed in his direction. "She was involved with whatever she is involved in because of you! You and your, sword, random journeys to who knows where….Orihime always followed you on these endeavors and someone from YOUR life came in and took her from mine!"

Tatsuki kept smacking Ichigo, who stood and took them with no reaction. She didn't care, whatever his reasoning was, whatever he was feeling, she just didn't care. "If it wasn't for you….if it wasn't for you…"

"I know…" Ichigo spoke solemnly and softly. "If it wasn't for me, Orihime would never had known anything about the spirit world, shingamis, hollows, and she would still be alive. You're right, it is my fault and I am so sorry."

Tatsuki's punches ended, and she fell towards her childhood friend and began sobbing in his arms. Her anger quickly absolved to brokenness. She knew Ichigo cared for Orihime too and would never want anything bad to happen to her. After sobbing for a few minutes, Tatsuki composed herself, backed up, and sat back down on the sheets on the floor that she was asleep in.

"Ichigo I know that it isn't your fault directly that Orihime is dead." Tatsuki spoke, her voice low and quivering as she looked to the floor, unable to look the orange haired youth in the face. "You didn't stab her in the chest that other man did. I know that, and I know you are hurting too. But the fact remains, if she wasn't wrapped up with you and this crazy world you seem to be a part of that involves terrifying monsters and men with swords coming in here and killing others…she'd be safe with me today…I want to know everything Ichigo. I want you to tell me what happened to Orihime, and what you all have been up to for all these years…I HAVE to know…but I can't right now. At this moment, I can't even look at you. Please, for now, just leave."

Ichigo listened closely and nodded as Tatsuki finished speaking. Without saying another word, he turned around and left his friend to her mourning. He gently closed the doors and walked into the living room, and sat next to the home's owner, Kisuke Urahara. The candy shop owner, former captain in the soul society, sipped his tea and looked at Ichigo with compassionate eyes.

"How's your friend doing?" Kisuke asked.

"She's awake, and still processing all of it." Ichigo responded as his eyes were unable to meet his mentor's. "She's right though…Orihime is dead because of me. I don't know who that guy was, or what exactly happened last night. But had she never met me, she'd never be introduced to all this spirit world stuff, and she'd still be alive with Tatsuki today. Tatsuki is one of my oldest friends, and last night because of me she lost her very best friend."

"I wouldn't be so sure." Urahara sagely responded. "I've been thinking of everything you told me about last night and reflecting on it. You said the man used a glove to remove some stone from Orihime's dead body. That reminds me of when Aizen extracted the Hōgyoku out of Rukia's body back when you were in the soul society. I placed that in her shortly after she was born, and that makes me believe that this stone that the man took from Orihime was put there long before you two even knew each other. Do you hear what I'm saying Ichigo? Orihime has faced much danger in your name in her days…but I do not believe that this one was you're doing."

"What was that red stone anyway?" Ichigo asked, still confused on the whole turn of events.

"I have no idea." Urahara spoke plainly, "I was thinking of taking a brief trip to the soul society to do some research on just that. I was thinking you could watch over the place in my absence."

"What me?" Ichigo asked, taken off guard by this strange request, "Why should I stay here and watch your dumb house for you? I should go to the soul society, I want answers just as bad as you!"

"Yes but I do not believe you know where to look." Urahara spoke plainly, "Besides the content of the red stone and the mysterious assailant is only one half of the mystery. Don't forget the other half."

"You're talking about Tatsuki's spiritual pressure we felt earlier?"

"I am…I have never felt anything like that, and I don't mean the intensity. Everything has different types of pressure. Soul reapers, hollows, the Bounts, even your Quincy friend…they all _feel_ distinct, and we can tell them apart. That girl though, the energy she released last night…I have absolutely no idea what it is. It was very powerful, and I have absolutely no idea what it is. That's very disconcerting. And if we noticed it here, you can assume also that people in the Soul Society caught wind of it too."

"Tatsuki…" Ichigo put his finger on chin considering the situation, "But she's just a human? Like me, and the others."

"You should know better than anyone that humans aren't always what they seem." Kisuke responded, "I want you to keep an eye on her, Ichigo. Protect her, help her through the grieving process. Her power, it seems that rage is what awakened it, and that means rage is going to be something that has the most control over her right now. There is one more thing Ichigo…"

"What's that?"

"While I'm gone, I want you to start training her to become a Shingami."

"What!? Why?" Ichigo exclaimed, the daunting task seemed like nothing at all he was equipped with.

"She has the potential to be really strong…and there is one more part of this situation that really bothers me." Urahara stood as he spoke and begun walking out the door, "That man's Zanpakuto…the description you gave me was very disconcerting. It sounded like something dangerous that I am praying is not what I think it is."

"What do you think it could be?" Ichigo asked as Urahara was now out the door of the candy shop.

The owner responded with three words right before he flash stepped away so fast that even Ichigo didn't catch which direction he went. The third words Ichigo heard were, "A forbidden Zanpakuto."

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**A/N: **Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed my story so far! I will keep updating as I am writing and I hope you will keep reading. Feel free to let me know what you think.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Kisuke Urahara walked quietly through the Seireitei within the Soul Society, observing the halls as he traveled to the grand hall. It had been so many years since he had traversed these buildings, and yet nothing had seemed to change. The former soul reaper who now was exiled to the world of the living wondered if the Soul Society would ever update their fashion? Gates that opened themselves, or would it be too much to ask for indoor plumbing?

So many faces within the walls of the Seiretitei didn't recognize Urahara, and he preferred the anonymity. Occasionally some of the "middle aged" shingami would give Kisuke a second look, perhaps coming to the conclusion that he looked familiar or maybe like someone they once studied in a history book in the Soul Academy. Occasionally, as he moved through the grand keep of the Soul Society, the candy shop owner would pass someone who actually knew him. For some, it was a look of utter disdain. Captain Kuchki, for example, at one point silently passed Urahara and gave him a look that suggested the strongest member of the royal clan wanted hurl upon glancing at the former captain. Many of the older folks simply blankly stared at Kisuke because all who recognized him wondered the same thing. Why would someone who had gone out of his way to stay out of the Soul Society for so long decide to return?

The doors to the grand hall opened slowly and rather loudly. Kisuke entered and noticed that apart from the man he scheduled a visit with, he was alone. The captains were not summoned, nor were their lieutenants around to protect the Soul Society Captain Commander. Urahara tilted his hat down as he grinned. Despite the differences they may have had in the past, old man Yamamoto was still a decent person.

"Captain Commander," the earth dweller said casually, as if he was meeting a friend for coffee. "Thanks so much for seeing me!"

"My, how the mighty have fallen." Head Captain Yamamoto sat in his large wooden chair holding his wooden cane which masked his Zanpakuto. "Centuries ago, Kisuke Urahara, you walked these halls an honored captain and respected shingami to the highest caliber. Now look at you, dressed in rags like a commoner with no real purpose. Tell me, what is going on in the land of the living that brought you all the way back here and gave you enough gusto to ask a private audience with the Head Captain himself?"

"Recently there was a power surge in Karakura town that was so powerful and unusual that I am certain it was noticed on the Soul Society's radar." Urahara responded, his voice sounding much more serious as he ignored the condescending comments from his former leader. "While that's perplexing, it isn't at all the reason I came to visit you…but the same time that power spike occurred, I believe our substitute soul reaper laid eyes on a man carrying one of the forbidden Zanpakutos."

"Impossible!" Captain Commander Yamamoto responded quickly and brashly. "There is no way such a power would be seen in the world of the living! Of the three forbidden weapons, one is imprisoned in Hell, the other as you know is kept safely here in the Soul Society, and the other is exile to Hueco Mundo."

"Interesting…" Kisuke said with a smile, already noticing the flaw in the captain's logic. "Tell me about that last one, please. I am sure you can't deny the possibility that someone trapped in the world of the Hollows could escape Hueco Mundo to the world of the living, as we all have left and entered there many times before."

"While the two other Zanpakutos are forbidden due to their immense and evil power," Yamamoto began explaining, "The Zanpakuto, Osafu is forbidden due to the nature of the blade's spirit. Osafu is an unruly spirit, who is against the ideal behind Zanpakuto's lending their fighting spirit and powers to soul reapers who use them to keep order in our society. The sword's nickname is, "The enemy to the Soul Society" and when we learned of Osafu's rebellious nature, a thousand years ago, we banished the blade and its master to the farthest reaches of Hueco Mundo."

"Tell me about the last wielder of the wind Zanpakuto, Osafu?" Kisuke asked with a wry smile, as he intentionally showed his cards to the Captain Commander that he knew the nature of the sword's powers based off of Ichigo's report.

The Head Captain eyes opened a little more, as he was shocked that the blade's nature was correctly assumed by Urahara. Within a moment, his composure was reset, and the old man responded calmly and authoritatively. "The soul reaper's name was Cedric Ares. He was such a free and mischievous spirit that is was no surprise to me that the Zanpakuto revealed itself to him. He was not a high ranking soul reaper, because his lack of respect to the higher ranks. He was also known as a trickster, always using his abilities which were enhanced by his weapon to sneak around the soul society and stir up trouble. When we discovered that he had reached Shinkai with the forbidden Zanpakuto we quickly identified it as a revival of Osafu, whose owner was defeated a long time ago. Cedric Ares was asked to part with his blade and he refused. Due to his insubordination and the nature of his forbidden weapon, both were banished to a highly ranked prison in Hueco Mundo."

"I see…" Urahara spoke, reflecting on the response he had just heard. "I have one more question and then I will bother you no more about this topic. Were there any objects that were ingrained into human souls in the soul society's history as I once did with Rukia Kuchki and the Hōgyoku?"

Captain Commander Yamamoto looked down with disdain towards the exiled soul reaper. "Enough of your questions, Kisuke Urahara! I will not discuss the inner workings of the Soul Society with a man who is not welcome in it! Return to the world of the living now, or prepare yourself for immediate imprisonment!"

"Whatever you say, old man." Urahara said with a wry smile as he turned away to leave the room. As he walked out he spoke once more, "But that was definitely not a No."

As the candy shop owner left the grand hall Yamamoto sighed as he considered the answer to Urahara's question. The answer was Yes, there was another object ingrained into a person's soul. If this was something that was connected to an escaped Cedric Ares, then Yamamoto needed to take immediate action. The Captain Commander resolved he would send some of his own to investigate more these strange events in Karakura Town. Renji Abari and Rukia Kuchki would be perfect for this covert operation.

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Back in Karakura Town, as the sun began to set, Tatsuki Arisawa quietly stood still looking down at her best friend's grave. It had been two weeks since Orihime had been murdered but Tatsuki still thought of it every waking moment, and during the rare moments where she could sleep she was haunted with nightmares of the event.

The funeral was more surreal then a usual death ceremony. Tatsuki had been to her fair share of funerals growing up. Her mother dying of cancer, and her father taking his own life years after the event. Those were tragic funerals too, but this one seemed so different. On one hand there were some of Orihime's classmates like Chizuru Honosho that cried nonstop, mourning the sudden loss of their close friend. That was what Tatsuki would consider the "normal" reaction at a funeral. She saw the same terrible mourning at her mother and father's, it was what she expected. Some of Orihime's closer friends like Ichigo, Chad, and Uryu still showed signs of mourning, but they cried as if there was something they could have done to stop the tragic murder. Tatsuki knew that for years Ichigo and his pals, along with Orihime, were all part of something strange that involved the safety of Karakura Town. She didn't know what, and she knew they all tried to protect her from the truth, but she always knew that there was a great secret among those four that they never cared to share with anyone else in their class.

Finally, Tatsuki was stunned to see several people she would consider strangers at Orihime's funeral. Sure, they were in class for a very little bit, and all seemed very close to Rukia Kuchki, but were they really close enough to Orihime to be at her funeral? How did she know them anyway? Tatsuki considered the strangers that were there: There was a bald one, one with exceptionally big boobs and long flowing orange hair, a short one with spikey white hair that was definitely younger than the others, and a guy with spikey red hair and tattoos on his face. Who were these strangers, Tatsuki wondered? After the funeral she watched them all from behind a tree from afar. Ichigo, Chad, and Uyru were conversing with the flock of strangers that seemed closest to Rukia. What were they talking about? What did they know that she didn't? Did they know the identity of the assassin? All of them had to be connected with the secrets that Ichigo always kept from Tatsuki. And those secrets, seemed to be connected with the death of Orihime.

Tatsuki flashed back to reality as she stood staring at her best friend's grave. She quietly spoke, though she knew that nobody would hear her words.

"I am so sorry I wasn't able to protect you, Orihime." She said, tears beginning to fall on the green grass, "I always have been able to protect you. In middle school, when the kids made fun of you…I beat them up. And in high school, when the boys started chasing you, I gave them a reason to run the other way. Even when Chizuru was being to forward with you, I was always there to get you out of a potentially awkward situation. You never asked, and but I knew you needed me. That was just how we worked…you were my best friend. You always were there for me to talk to, and you made me feel like I belonged in this world. After my parents died I had nobody, and we just clicked. Our friendship was something that not many folks will ever have the gift of experiencing. Our bond, it was so beautiful, and that's why it hurts so much that you're not here anymore…And I know you wouldn't want me to, but I blame myself. When you needed me the most, I could do nothing to protect you! What's worse is that you were even trying to protect me! When did that happen? What did you, Ichigo and the others go through that brought you to the point where you felt like you needed to protect me, Orihime? I was always the protector…and you were the protected. That was our system, and you had to go and screw it up. If only I knew what was going on that night, then maybe I could have saved you! Maybe I could have gotten you away…I could have done something…"

Tatsuki was now in full sob mode as she spoke to the grave. Even though Orihime was dead it felt like she could still voice her emotions to her in a way that nobody else would understand. That was their connection, and she would never again be able to feel it in person again.

"Hey Tatsuki." Ichigo's voice was heard in the distance. Tatsuki said nothing, and stood still, trying to compose herself so her friend would not see her cry like this. She had been staying with Ichigo at his friend's house for the past two weeks. He asked her to, the orange haired youth said he didn't want her to stay alone. Though they stayed in the same building, Tatsuki had not spoken to Ichigo for two weeks, she didn't know what she could say to him.

"I know of all of us, you're hurting the most." Ichigo spoke softly and sincerely as he approached his friend since childhood. "The way she lit up when she was around you, it's clear that Orihime thought the world of you."

Finally, for the first time in two weeks Tatsuki responded to Ichigo. "Orihime was my world…she was my best friend, my soul sister. Ichigo, I want to know what's going on. I want to know who that man was that murdered her. I want to know what you, Orihime, and everyone else have been doing for the past two years that has gotten her into whatever she was in. I don't blame you for her death…I just…I know you're going after her killerwith all those weirdos that keep showing up with Rukia…and I want to come with you. Don't leave me in the dark Ichigo. You have answers, and I want them."

"Alright Tatsuki." Ichigo spoke as he put his hand on her arm, "Come with me, and I'll tell you everything."

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**A/N_:_**_ Thanks for reading and thanks to everyone who has followed my story! Please keep reading and I treasure your opinions of my work. Just a reminder that I do not own Bleach. I did introduce an OC in this chapter that has appeared in chapter 1 and that is Cedric Ares. He and his Zanpakuto Osafu are original, though the blade's based loosely off of Final Fantasy 8's gunblade. Thank you again!_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"This is where it all started…" Ichigo spoke to Tatsuki, as they stood outside of his house. Dusk had fallen and the moon was out now. As they left the cemetery, Ichigo promised Tatsuki that he would keep no secrets from her. Anything she wanted to know, he would tell her. "I saw a monster here almost three years ago. Well, the technical name for the monster was a Hollow, but I didn't know that then."

"You saw something that was invisible to everything else…" Tatsuki responded, considering everything she knew about Ichigo. "So I was right long ago when I suspected that you could see dead people, even though you told me you couldn't."

"Yes, I may have hid the truth a bit then." Ichigo said with a sheepish smile, "The thing is, hollows are attracted to people with higher spiritual pressure. People like me, you, my sisters, even Chad and Orihime have higher spiritual pressure. So this thing was coming after my family…and that's when I met Rukia for the first time, and everything changed."

Tatsuki listened as Ichigo told her everything. The hollow was a strong one, and had bested the soul reaper Rukia. Rukia lent Ichigo her power, and he became a soul reaper with his own sword…or Zanpakuto as he called them. From then on Ichigo fought hollow after hollow, becoming Karakura Town's protector, or "Substitute Soul Reaper." Ichigo told her about the Soul Society, how Orihime and the others followed him there during the summer that she said she was visiting family out of town. In this other spirit world, Tatsuki learned they faced many battles and several times Orihime healed them with a power that only she possessed. Nobody understood her power, but it was different and unique from the others. She was not really a fighter, Ichigo explained, but she was always valuable for the team due to her healing abilities, protective shield, and her hopeful and optimistic attitude.

Then Ichigo informed Tatsuki of their many other adventures. How they defeated the Bounts, protected a princess, and then about the Espada and Aizen. This was the most terrifying story, for Tatsuki definitely recalled this Aizen character. She learned of how he sent his incredibly powerful and fully evolved hollows, known as the Espada, to capture Orihime so they could use her unique power, which seemed to work outside of time, as they learned, for Aizen's evil plan. Tatsuki cringed as she considered the terrible things her best friend must have gone through in this world of monsters known as Hueco Mundo. Ichigo explained how Orihime many times in there saved his life, and kept him strong to keep fighting more powerful enemies. As he told story after story of Fullbrings, Menos Grandes, Quincies, and so many other unbelievable things, he often pointed out that if it wasn't for his friends he would not have made it out of it alive. The two walked down the street back to Urahara's shop as Ichigo concluded all he had to say. At the end, Tatsuki had never been more proud of Orihime then she was in that moment. She always knew that her orange haired soul sister was _her_ hero, but to see what a _real_ hero she was for everyone…just made her all the more special.

"I see…" Tatsuki reflected on all this information and then spoke as she considered her musing. "The way I see it then, the man that murdered Orihime was a soul reaper then right?"

"Well, I don't know…" Ichigo considered this.

"He had to be, he had a Zanpakuto right?" She replied, "So if he doesn't live here in Karakura town, then he has to be in the spirit world. So I guess I will go there and avenge Orihime!"

"It's not that simple!" Ichigo spoke, frustration filling his voice. As much as he wanted justice for his fallen friend, he recognized the seed of hatred and rage that was consuming Tatsuki. "First of all, I've never heard of this guy, and neither has any of the soul reapers that were at Orihime's funeral. He's an enigma, he may not even be in the spirit world. And if he was, the place is to big for you to just traverse around and try to find him at. AND even if you do find him, he was incredibly strong. You'd be dead in an instant, Tatsuki. I'm sorry to say that, really."

"So what do you think I should do?" Tatsuki now was the frustrated one, "Just sit here and do nothing? You can't tell me that YOU are just going to sit here and do nothing. No, you've gotten your merry band of soul reapers, qunicies, and whatever the heck Chad is together and you're going to find this guy and take him out. I know you Ichigo, you're not going to let this go, and neither am I! You're going to go after him, and I want to come too."

"I…" Ichigo was speechless, Tatsuki was like him in so many ways. It was as if he was arguing with himself. "Look, Tatsuki…I know how you feel, it's just…Orihime wouldn't want you to get involved in all this. I get that you think it's amazing and all hearing about all the powers we've obtained through the places we've been and experiences we've had but…we've been through some pretty terrible stuff to protect the people we love. Orihime, when she fought, she fought to protect you. I don't think she would have wanted you to be pursuing this man."

"Really?" Tatsuki looked Ichigo deep in the eyes, as her voice now was cold and filled with malice. "Is that what Orihime would want? Are you so sure, Ichigo? I am not, I wish I could know for sure…I wish I could just ASK her, but I can't because Orihime is dead! She's dead because some soul reaper decided to kill her to take some red rock out of her body! That's all she was to this freak. To this murderer, our sweet Orihime was just some wrapping to collect his crimson stone. Get rid of the wrapping, and take the stone…but she wasn't wrapping, she was OUR FRIEND! And she's DEAD! So no, I can't ask Orihime what she would want because she is gone and I am stuck here on this earth without my best friend…so I want to find this assassin and I want to take him out. You and your friends are wanting to do the same thing, and it's wrong of you to just leave me out of it."

"Look it's not that it's just…"

"Screw it," Tatsuki shrugged off Ichigo's next comment as she turned around to walk away. "If you won't help me I'll find my own way. One way or another, I'm going to avenge Orihime."

Ichigo sighed deeply as the black haired tomboy walked off fuming. Tatsuki was lost, and usually Orihime was her compass that brought her back on the path. Ichigo knew that would happen no longer, and he knew it was up to him to do something before Tatsuki found herself in a position she could not escape. Kisuke Urahara's words radiated through Ichigo's mind…"train her".

"Wait Tatsuki!" Ichigo cried out as he began running after her. She stopped, but she did not turn around. "Look…Urahara had this crazy idea. He said I should try to train you to become a soul reaper…you know like me."

"I thought you said normal humans can't become soul reapers." Tatsuki responded, "You could because you borrowed Rukia's spiritual energy for a while which allowed yours to manifest in a very accelerated way right? So how could I possibly become one?"

"That's the thing…" Ichigo said seriously, not to sure if it was a good idea to even go down the road he was about to. "On the night Orihime was killed…your spiritual pressure went through the roof. When I came to the scene and fought the killer, you're power was incredible. It was unlike anything me or Urahara have ever felt. It was similar to soul reaper spiritual pressure…but different."

"Alright then, Ichigo!" Tatsuki spoke as she grabbed his arm and her eyes glimmered with hope. "Let's do it! Train me to be a soul reaper! I know I can do it!"

"If we go down this path…" Ichigo said, his eyes showing sadness and worry, "You could die in the process."

"I feel like I died that night with Orihime…" Tatsuki's voice quivered as tears filled her eyes. "But what you're saying, it's giving me hope…it's giving me a reason to keep going, and a way to go…We can do this Ichigo!"

"Alright then!" Ichigo agreed, knowing that Tatsuki's mind was made up, "We'll start tomorrow then."

* * *

Meanwhile underground in a sewer in a spot that had been carefully covered with Seki Seki rock to mask spiritual pressure, a man with a red bandana covering the lower part of his face, with spikey purple hair and red eyes began to use secret kido to open a channel to his superiors.

"What have you to report?" the feral voice from the other end asked as soon as the link was established.

"I have the stone." Cedric responded obediently, "I removed it from the vessel, after killing her, and was met with resistance by the substitute soul reaper. Of course, you already know this as during the battle I received an order to retreat. I wish you would have let me stayed and finish the battle. Now, because he and that little friend of the vessel saw me word has gotten back all the way to the Soul Society. I am having to move extra carefully as everyone is looking for a mysterious power and a forbidden Zanpakuto…things were easier when I was lurking in the shadows."

"Whining is not becoming of you, servant." The voice responded, "The substitute soul reaper is not a force for you to treat lightly. He has defeated many formidable opponents and it has been proven in times of desperation, as in if he were just to have lost a loved one, his power is immeasurable. Please remember the stone is useless without the chalice…which you have yet to obtain, am I correct?"

"You are correct, Master…" the rogue soul reaper bowed his head, "I have combed the earth looking for it and have concluded it must be somewhere in the soul society."

"Then you must go to the soul society then to retrieve the chalice. Our plan to bring the Seireitei to its knees is absolutely useless without the chalice and the stone together. Do not worry about waiting long for an opening to the soul society. Now that the Hell Stone is out of its host, the great pressure it imits will lead to many holes in the world of the living, the spirit world, and hueco mundo. Hollows will be feasting all over Karakura town soon, and the Soul Society itself will be dealing with invading hollows too. Use these as distractions and find your way to the spirit world and recover the chalice there. I trust you know what to do with the artifacts once you have received them, yes?"

"I do Master…" Cedric spoke with an evil smile as the link began to fade, "And I promise that once I obtain both objects, the Soul Reapers will be completely defenseless against what we will release. The power that is coming will be unlike anything they have ever experienced."

* * *

**A/N: **Four chapters in one day...not a bad start I think! I had a lot of time to myself today, which will not always be the case. I will try to update regularly though. Thanks again for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The next day Tatsuki woke up early in the morning and Ichigo led her down to a secret basement in Kisuke Urahara's house. As she reached the base of the latter and overlooked this seemingly infinite room Tatsuki gasped at the unbelievable sigh

It was as if Kisuke had his own underground desert in his home. The sky was bright blue, as if it was the sunniest of days. There were even clouds that moved slowly. Tatsuki found it hard to believe she was still indoors. Ichigo led Tatsuki deeper into the room for a bit as he spoke.

"This is where Urahara took me to awaken my soul reaper powers back when I had first lost them after Rukia was taken back to the soul society." Ichigo said as turned to face his new pupil. "it will be a little rough, and I'm not quite sure the results…but I believe we can awaken your powers the same way. Of course if I'm wrong…."

"I want to do this, Ichigo." Tatsuki declared as she looked at her friend with caring eyes. "I know the risks. I know I could die from whatever we are doing down here. I want you to know, that if that were to happen…It would not be your fault, but my own. This is what I want to do."

"You know me well enough to know I will never see it that way." Ichigo responded with a frown on his face.

"Well, then I'll just have to live then!" Tatsuki spoke with a witty smile.

Ichigo laughed to himself at Tatsuki's resolve. It was much like his own, and the substitute soul reaper counted as one of his greatest strengths. The will to win and accomplish whatever you needed to do no matter what. That sheer willpower had been enough to get Ichigo through all the trials he had been through up to this point. He hoped it would also be enough for Tatsuki.

The teacher led his new student to a spot in the pseudo desert where they sighted a massive hole in the ground. Ichigo smiled and stopped, as he had finally found what he was looking for. The orange haired boy reached in his backpack and pulled out a fingerless glove with a skull on the back of it.

"What is that?" Tatsuki asked?"

"Right now you're in your human form." Ichigo replied, "We need to be dealing with your spirit form. This is Rukia's glove, and it should help with that. Are you ready?"

"Ready for wha…" Tatsuki couldn't finish her sentence before Ichigo lunged towards her and smacked her head with the palm of his skull glove wielding hand. Tatsuki was surprised, but not at all hurt by the hit. The experience she felt in this moment was unlike anything else she had ever felt.

Tatsuki literally fell out of her own body. She fell backwards, then she watched her body fall forward onto the ground lifeless. Tatsuki let out a yelp of horror, until she realized that she seemed unharmed. She looked down to examine her body, which still seemed to be perfectly normal. Well, almost perfect. Tatsuki noticed a chain that was connected from her chest to the chest of her lifeless body that currently laid on the ground.

What…what the hell, Ichigo?" Tatsuki demanded, as she had no words to describe what just happened.

"You're in your spirit form now. That chain that links you to your body, it's your soul chain."

This chain…" Tatsuki pondered, "Is connected to my soul? Ths part of my chest, it's the same spot as where that man ripped that red stone from Orihime's body after he killed her…so did he rip away part of her soul after killing her?"

"I don't know…" Ichigo replied sadly, as he considered that tragic night. "It seems to be something like that though, that's not the first time I've seen someone get something ripped from their soul."

"Ok, what next?" Tatsuki asked, determine to master whatever it is her friend was willing to teach her.

"How do you feel, Tatsuki?"

"I feel…" Tatsuki suddenly dropped to the ground and breathed harder, "Heavier…and like it's harder to breathe!"

"Perfect, then you're ready!" Ichigo spoke as he begun walking away. "Of course we can't leave your body there, why don't you drag it over here back to the ladder leading upstairs. I'm going to get something to eat!"

Tatsuki groaned as she struggled to budge her own body. Ordinarily her own weight would have been exceptionally simple for anyone to move, but in her current condition it felt five times heavier. She cursed at Ichigo as he left her to this hard and seemingly useless task. "Why didn't we just do this body removal thing back at the ladder before coming all the way out here?"

Tatsuki begun by holding the lifeless arm of her body and dragging it across the sand, breathing heavily with each step. Then it occurred to the young lady that this was _her_ body she was treating like a heavy bag of garbage. It may be more work, but she assumed she had to get back into it eventually, so Tatsuki decided to get under her own body and lift it up, as if she was carrying an injured friend.

In about thirty minutes, Tatsuki had reached the ladder and leaned her body against the room's wall which looked like the horizon of the desert. After setting her physical form on the wall, Tatsuki took a step back, and prevented herself from falling forward by holding her two knees with her hands. She felt much winded after not moving very far. For the girl who was very competent in martial arts and very physically fit, this was very disappointing.

Not too long after Tatsuki reached the ladder, Ichigo jumped down the ladder, holding a three meat and cheese sub, half eaten. Tatsuki glared at him, as she was clearly annoyed at the seemingly dumb task he had asked her to do.

"Tatsuki you made it back already with your body?" Ichigo asked, shocked that it had taken her so little time. "I was thinking I still had enough time to run down to the market and get a couple drinks…"

"Really, are you even taking this seriously?" Tatsuki demanded, her voice showing signs of her anger management class limits appearing.

"Of course I am!" Ichigo casually responded as he began walking forward once more into the "desert". He motioned Tatsuki to follow.

"Where are we going now?" Tatsuki fussed.

"Back to the hole." Ichigo responded

"But I was just there! Why didn't you ask me to leave my body at the ladder before we went to the hole!?" Tatsuki spoke as she was growing very tired of the substitute soul reaper's games.

"Oh by the way," Ichigo asked, as he paused and turned and looked back at his new pupil. His voice now was serious and intentional, "how are you handling moving in your spirit form? How's the breathing and weight of everything?

"I feel…" Tatsuki considered the question, "Just fine! It's not heavy at all, and I'm breathing perfectly normal!"

"That's why I had you move your own body." Ichigo responded, "I figured a little physical labor would help restore your strength and endurance. It should be strong enough for us to move on with the rest of the exercises to awaken your…well, we'll get to that."

"Get to what?" Tatsuki now was curious as to what she would be doing. As she was about to ask for more details, she felt her chest pull the rest of her body back. Tatsuki stopped abruptly and remembered that she had a chain attached to her human body that kept her from going to far. She looked back up to her tutor and spoke out, "Hey Ichigo, I think I've gotten to as far as I can since I have this whole soul chain thing. I can't go forward anymore."

"Oh yeah…" Ichigo turned around completely and faced Tatsuki. He looked at her chain and sighed. This was the hard part, he thought. Putting on a confident face, the orange haired man spoke, "I guess we need to take care of that don't we?"

"What do you mean?" Tatsuki asked. Without any kind of warning, Ichigo withdrew his gigantic Zanpakuto and slashed the soul chain, breaking it so Tatsuki was no longer bound to her physical body. She gasped in shock, as there was a sharp and intense pain that quickly faded away. Tatsuki jumped backwards and yelled at Ichigo. "What the hell are you doing, Ichigo?"

"I'm afraid it's going to get a lot worse…" Ichigo spoke as he jumped high in the air and over Tatsuki. He then landed behind her and kicked her hard in the back. The kick was so powerful that Tatsuki fell down and slid through the sand for a mile or so, and into the giant hole that she had once visited. Tatsuki screamed as she fell into the dark hole and crashed on the hard ground at the bottom. While still sitting, slightly dazed and confused, Tatsuki looked up to see Ichigo at the top of the hole. He yelled down to the lady he just sent flying down a 50 feet drop, "Hey Tatsuki! Can you hear me? Listen carefully, this is the life threatening part I was telling you about…you need to know a few things that are about to happen…"

* * *

Meanwhile, outside Urahara's house deep in the night from the sky over Karakura Town a large black tear in space appeared and ripped open. Several disgusting beasts from Hueco Mundo known as Hollows began clawing their way through the rip and within moments were levitating in the sky.

"Fresh souls!" One monster's deep demon voice bellowed, as he jumped onto a build and began rushing towards a residential neighborhood.

"Urrgha!" Several less intelligent hollows growled in agreement as they followed the beast.

Each monster looked very difficult and had some type of skull head. Some had wings, others multiple legs. One had several eyes in its skull mask, and another had six tails that ignited on fire. By the time the portal closed, there were a dozen unique and terrifying monsters in Karakura Town, all of which were rushing to the strongest signs of spiritual pressure to feast on souls.

But they weren't the only ones that had recently appeared in Karakura Town. The Hollows cringed as they heard two voices speak in unison.

From one, "Dance Sode no Shirayuki!"

From the other, "Roar Zabimaru!"

* * *

**A/N: **_I have had several folks follow or favorite me and my story...Thank you, it's a real honor to have your attention! I hope you keep enjoying this fanfiction and please let me know what you think! Get pumped for the next chapter, friends...we finally get to meet Tatsuki's Zanpakuto!_


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Out of the rip of space, connecting Hueco Mundo to Karakura Town, twelve hollows rushed out into the night ready to feast on the souls of defenseless humans. In one direction, three hollows descended on an old man walking home from a late night at the office. Without any knowledge of the terrors invisible to a being that cannot sense spiritual pressure, the man hobbled along with his cane grumbling about his ruthless boss. The man couldn't be less aware of it but he was surrounded by a hollow with a hairy body, two green wings and silver talons, a giant humanoid shaped hollow the size of a small edifice, and a four legged hollow with a scorpion stinger tail. The three monsters closed in on the elderly man, their eyes shining with the lust of murder.

Before the hollows could attack, a long blade with several segments flew forward and with three swings, slashed all the beasts. As if they were made from sugar cubes, each beast felt into pieces and dissipated as the sword went through their bodies. The long sectioned Zanpakuto, known as Zabimaru , retracted to the size of a normal sword as its wielder, the Soul Reaper Renji Abarai hopped from the street to a tall building to fight the next of the twelve released hollows.

At the same time, not far down the road from where Renji had protected the old man, a homeless lady laid on a bench at the train station attempting catch this evening's sleep. Four hollows, each resembling a black two legged lizard wearing a skull mask with blood red eyes, crept towards the sleeping lady. Saliva fell from the mouths of a couple of these dwellers of Hueco Mundo, as their long pink tongues licked their lips. The woman sensed troubled and slowly opened her eyes. Having experienced a few near death experiences in her life, this lady was slightly more spiritually aware then most humans, and could see the monsters walking close to her. The woman let out a terrified scream but she was to petrified with fear to do anything else to get away. The hollows continued to move towards her anxiously awaiting their feast on her soul.

With no warning, the blue outline of a circle appeared on the ground around the four monsters. In a matter of a second, a massive surge of ice spiritual energy shot forward out of the circle towards the sky. When the energy faded away, all four of the hollows had been frozen. The ice sculptures begun to crack, and suddenly shattered leaving nothing of the hollows. The Soul Reaper, Rukia Kuchki looked from a distance at her Zanpakuto's handy work, noticed the woman was okay and just shook the experience off towards a drunk nightmare, and moved on to stop the rest of the hollows.

Renji and Rukia moved swiftly throughout the town eliminating the hollow visitors. Each monster fell with ease at the blades of the highly ranked and well trained Shingami. Rukia was the first to flash step onto the roof of a tall warehouse to overlook the south side of Karakura Town, and her friend Renji appeared shortly after. For two warriors that grew up together, based off of their appearances, it was clear that Renji and Rukia had two very different lives. Rukia, with short jet black hair and wise blue eyes, stood with poise as she conducted herself in a reserved and well mannered way. An adopted member of the royal Kuchki clan, Rukia had quickly learned the importance of pride and the discipline of good edict. Renji, on the other hand, had long flowing red hair tied back in a ponytail, several facial tribal tattoos, and hard wild hazel eyes. Though a lieutenant in squad 6 now, Renji started out as a solider in the warlike squad 11 and still held true the heart of a fighter.

"That seems to be all of them." Renji said as he transformed his Zanpakuto to its regular sword form and sheaved it.

"I can't believe how many came out of one hole!" Rukia replied as she processed the recent events. "I've been around Karakura town often now, and typically we see one or _maybe_ two at a time…but twelve? That's unheard of!"

"What I want to know is where the hell is Ichigo tonight when his town is being overrun by all these hollows?" Renji demanded, "He is the substitute soul reaper of Karakura Town after all!"

"I am surprised he isn't here too." Rukia reflected on her friend, worried about his current condition. "Though Ichigo hasn't been himself lately. You know, ever since…"

"Yeah…" Renji agreed, as Rukia trailed off unable to speak of the tragic event. "Ever since Orihime. From what I've heard he has hardly done much work in his soul form. Reports I've read about him say he's just been hanging around at Kiskuke Urahara's place. Luckily, Chad and Uryu have been picking up the slack, it seems."

Renji stopped for a moment and then decided it was time for the two soul reapers to get back on task. He spoke once more, "It's a good thing we showed up when we did, but let's not forget while we're here, Rukia. The Captain Commander want us to look into that Hell Stone business and try to track down the soul reaper that stole it! I trust I don't have to tell you what that stone does, right?"

"Yeah I read the report too…" Rukia agreed, "Paired with an ancient chalice, the Hell Stone can open a portal to the Void...which currently houses the Soul Society's most dangerous criminals that were deemed to dangerous for Hueco Mundo exile. We should continue our search!"

As the two began to leave the rooftop, Rukia paused and turned her head to the direction of Urahara's house. _"Ichigo," _She thought, _"I hope you're okay. You're one of the strongest people I know. If anyone can overcome this tragedy, I know you can! Now more then ever, your town needs you…What could you possibly be doing right now?"_

* * *

Tatsuki's eyes widened as terror had sliced into her soul, as she began to feel her stomach telling her that she was hungry. The young woman, unlinked from her physical body at the bottom of a hole recalled what Ichigo had told her right after he kicked her in the hole:

"_Listen carefully, this is the life threatening part I was telling you about…you need to know a few things that are about to happen_." The memory of Ichigo's voice rang in her head, _"Do you see the remains of your soul chain on your chest? You will notice very soon that little by little, the links will turn into little soul monsters and they will start eating the chain itself. You need to awaken your soul reaper form BEFORE that happens. If you don't, I am afraid you will become a hollow."_

"_What!?" _Tatsuki had demanded, _"How am I supposed to do that?"_

"_You need get out of that hole." _Ichigo then responded, _"Make it to the top in your soul form, and you will be a soul reaper. You have around three days, before your soul chain is completely eaten…and then you will be a hollow and I will have to kill you. There is one more thing to, Tatsuki. When you start getting hungry, you know the hollow transformation is about to take place."_

Tatsuki's mind fluttered back into reality as the pain of her soul chain being devoured by the little teeth monsters on her chest was taking place. She fell to the ground and cringed as she felt death quickly approaching. She had tried for what seemed like an eternity to climb up the hole back to where Ichigo sat silently waiting. It was too steep, and to high. Her martial arts training would let her get at least halfway up, but then she would fall back on her bottom. She had been able to simply curse, dust herself off, rise to her feet, and try again, but recently fatigue was beginning to settle in. And now, the woman in spirit form began to feel those uncomfortable stomach pains of malnourishment. The end seemed near.

Tatsuki laid at the bottom of the hole in the fetal position crying out as she hurt more. Sweat rolled off her chin as she opened her eyes and caught a glimpse of the last little bit of soul chain fading away. Tatsuki yelled even louder fearing for her life, and what would happen if she became one of those terrible soul eating monsters that she had seen a few times in the past.

"ICHIGO HELP ME!" Tatsuki cried out in hysteria.

And then it happened…in a matter of seconds, Tatsuki was in the hole, and then she wasn't. As if it was a dream where one's location changes at the flip of a hat, Tatsuki found herself standing in a field with dark purple grass and a sky that was a rainbow of shifting colors. It was, beautiful and unsettling at the same time. It was warm and pleasant, but Tatsuki felt at ease as if there was a lurking danger. There was no noise, and Tatsuki no longer was in any kind of pain.

She quickly examined herself. She was standing upright, not at all injured and without any soul chain. Her clothing had changed completely, and she was no longer sweaty or covered in dirt. Tatsuki's eyes went from examining herself to observing the strange surroundings again. It wasn't long before she realized that she was not alone in this strange world.

From the distance, Tatsuki caught glimpse of a bright red lion with mane made out of fire and golden eyes that radiated with power, rage, wisdom, and discipline. It was massive, and its tail also had fire at its tip. The lion looked straight back at Tatsuki as she noticed it, and the young girl couldn't felt that this terrifying majestic beast was peering deep into her soul.

"Ichigo was telling me about this…" Tatsuki said to herself as she considered this strange land she had found herself in. She looked back at the beast and yelled at it, "Hey! You're my spirit animal, or Zanpakuto right? I see what happened…I just somehow entered into my own soul or something?"

"What child is this that she lays ownership on me?" The lion's deep voice bellowed out with such power that the ground itself begun to tremble. Tatsuki shivered in fear, the beast seemed much more dangerous as it spoke. "The audacity of an insect like you to call me an _animal_, as if I was your pet to be tamed? Little girls must be taught respect by their elders. It has been thousands of years since any mere human has been able to be in my presence without burning into pieces…I wonder if this child can even utter my name?"

* * *

**A/N:**_ Any guesses on what Tatsuki's Zanpakuto's name is going to be? Feel free to send them in and see how right/wrong you are in the next chapter!_

_Special thanks to those of you that have dropped reviews in the past few days! They are incredibly encouraging and/or helpful for me to receive. For example, Queen Karin in her review helped me see that I have not been properly writing in Ichigo's emotion to Orihime's death in this story so I will be trying to adjust his character a bit in future chapters...and if I am especially dedicated I will adjust him in previous chapters when the story is finished. All that to say, your feedback is appreciated =D_

_Until next time, thanks for reading!_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Tatsuki stared at the ferocious and yet majestic red lion with fiery mane. His intense eyes peered back at Tatsuki, staring straight into the essence of her being. Tatsuki found herself unable to move. She stood in awe of such power, and she would be lying if she wasn't a little afraid of this beast in this strange land.

"A human girl…" The lion's voice roared and was heard all across his land, "This human girl has found her way into my domain to challenge my power? Why would any human dare play with the incredible powers of a Zanpakuto."

Tatsuki face shifted from fear to determination as she remembered why she was doing this. She pictured Orihime and was able to take a few steps forward with renewed purpose. She realized that Zanpakutos were sacred to the soul reapers, and as such they should be treated with more respect then she had been giving the spirit. "My name is Tatsuki Arisawa. I am wanting to become a soul reaper to avenge my friend that has fallen at the hands of a cruel assassin. I want justice for my friend, and I want to be able to protect other good people like her that cannot protect themselves. I am sorry for my disrespect earlier, but please, I need you to lend me your power."

"Silence!" The lion bellowed back at Tatsuki, cutting her off as she tried to explain herself to him. "I care not for your name, for your purpose, or for your apologies. In my world, all that matters is power. Do you have the power to wield me? Do you have the power to coexist alongside my essence? Not many do, what power could any mere human child like yourself have?"

"I have what it takes!" Tatsuki yelled back, fire in her eyes as she spoke. "Tell me what I must do to prove that I can effectively wield you as a Zanpakuto!"

"Your boldness has not been without noticed." The Zanpakuto spirited nodded in acknowledgement to Tatsuki. "Very well then, child. You must leave your mark on me, brand me as if I were your own beast to command. Leave your mark on me and I will grant you the power you need to obtain your goals."

Tatsuki stood strong as she prepared herself for the task at hand. She wondered, what could he have meant by "leave her mark on him"? Tatsuki noticed a small patch of smoke appear at her feet. She looked down and took a quick step back and watched as the smoke faded and on the ground laid a silver boomerang, each end serving as a sharp blade.

"You can't be serious?" Tatsuki asked, "I have to cut you with this boomerang….is that it?"

"Does it seem like a simple task to you, young one?" The lion questioned as he crouched and prepared itself ready to pounce. "Let me assure you, that many have tried to make their mark on me, and only very few have succeed. All the others, have burnt away in the quest."

Before Tatsuki could process this information the massive lion lunged forward at great speeds. Tatsuki jumped to the side and rolled onto the purple grass to just barely dodge the beast. As Tatsuki sat on the ground, and breathed heavily from the shock of the lion attacking her so swiftly, she turned just in time to see the lion glow with a bright red aura. Three fireballs formed on top of him and shot towards Tatsuki. With reflexes that could only be formed with years of marital arts training, Tatsuki dove onto the ground once more, dodged one, rolled to the right dodging another, and the third gave her no immediate threat.

The fireballs hit the ground and like bombs ripped open the terrain. What was once a flat field of peaceful purple grass, now contained several elevated chunks of land that burned brightly. Tatsuki quickly moved behind one to catch her breath and devise some sort of strategy to overcome this obstacle. She peered around the chunk of land protecting her to notice the boomerang still lying on the ground. Her eyes then moved to the red spirit lion looking at the little hill she hid behind.

"What nonsense!" The lion growled at Tatsuki. "How can you hope to be more powerful and lay your mark on me if all you will do is run like a scared little girl? Can your human essence take much more, I wonder?"

"_While he's talking…_" Tatsuki quickly concluded, _"This is my chance to strike!"_

"Humans are indeed fragile creatures…"

"Let me show you how tough us humans can be!" Tatsuki barked as she hopped out of hiding and ran towards the boomerang and quickly picked it up from the ground.

The lion's eyes fell upon Tatsuki who was rushing towards him, and the beast opened up it's large mouth and released another fireball towards her. Tatsuki continued her charge and attempted to smack the blazing sphere away with her weapon. The boomerang deflected the fireball, and began to glow red itself.

"_I see…" _Tatsuki thought to herself as she watched the metal's color change, _"This weapon seems to absorb his heat energy. It makes sense since the Zanpakuto himself created it for me." _

Planning a frontal assault, Tatsuki leapt into the air and tossed the boomerang towards the lion who simply moved his head slightly to the right. The boomerang kept flying for a mile or two, and landed on the ground behind where the fight was taking place.

"What the hell kind of boomerang doesn't return to its thrower?" Tatsuki demanded as she leaned down and used her hand to brace herself as she touched down on ground once more.

"You will have to do way better than that young one." The beast roared as he rushed towards her, flames flowing from his body. "And now I will go on the offense!"

The lion ran with great speed, all four legs leaving the ground they touched in ember and ash. Tatsuki ran forward, as she instinctively felt an internal strength in her grow in a way that she had never experienced before. She could not explain it but her body was telling her to just go with the feeling. As the lion opened his mouth to devour his opponent, Tatsuki leapt onto his head and then did a front flip over the beast. Unknown to her, she had just did a jump higher than any mere human could accomplish.

Tatsuki kept running with as much speed as she could muster towards her weapon that was a great distance away. The Zanpakuto spirit paused and looked back at the girl with a grunt of acknowledgement to her ability. _"Her spirit power is awakening as this battle progresses. Perhaps her body work alongside my power, but she is still very far off…and she doesn't have much time it would seem."_

Tatsuki ran towards the weapon not looking back, knowing that she didn't have time to. She winced in pain as she looked down and looked at her right hand that suddenly became very painful and very heavy. Her eyes widened with terror as she realized that her right hand had turned to stone. The martial artist picked up her weapon, turned around and yelled back at the beast.

"Hey lion!" Tatsuki demanded, "What did you do to my hand?"

"You may be in a state of alternate reality in my world." He replied, his voice radiating with great magnitude, "But your reality is still occurring. Your soul, detached from it's physical form, is rapidly becoming a hollow. You do not have long now. My power could save your life, but that's only if you can lay your mark on me."

Tatsuki winced in pain once more but was even more determined to finish the objective. Once more she ran swiftly to the lion and threw here boomerang at the crimson animal. This time, the throw was stronger and the boomerang swirled faster at the beast, but he was able to leap high into the air and avoid it once more. The girl watched as her weapon spun around for a brief moment, but then quickly fell on the ground.

"_Her energy is growing rapidly. She is almost able to manipulate the boomerang."_ The spirit acknowledged.

The battle raged on. Tatsuki fought harder than she ever had in a martial arts tournament. Each of her throws would improve. The boomerang would be more powerful, it would fly faster, glow with a brighter hue of red, and would come closer to returning to her fully. After about six perilous attempts, Tatsuki was able to throw the boomerang and experience being able to catch the weapon as it returned to her. She smile as she had figured out how maneuver this strange weapon. Tatsuki believed that her technique had improved with the boomerang, but the lion knew it was her spirit pressure increasing that was giving her the ability to control where the boomerang was flying.

"I have been on the defense for most of this encounter." The lion spirit roared at Tatsuki, "Now it is time for me to strike at you with great power. Prepare yourself, little human girl."

The lion let out a massive earth shattering roar that seemed to create vast quanities of fire bolts that zipped towards Tatsuki all at once. The girl moved swiftly to dodge several, deflect others with her bladed boomerang, and attempted to jump back and throw her weapon to destroy the remaining lightning bolts in one swoop. Tatsuki succeeded, or so she thought.

As the boomerang swirled through fire bolts, disintegrating them, Tatsuki smiled as she felt she had overcome the attack. As the L shaped item was far from its wielder, the lion let out another roar and a second wave of fire bolts shot towards Tatsuki.

Tatsuki ducked down and covered her head screaming, feeling as if the end was near as the fire bolts shot towards her. She had no defense, she was going to be electrocuted, burned, or maybe more depending on how such mystic attacks worked. Her scream changed from fear to anguish as she realized if she died here she wouldn't be able to avenge her friend, or tame this spiritual beast. She wished she could. She wanted nothing more than to master this power and use it to bring justice to her friends, both fallen and living. She had watched Ichigo and the others for years defend Karakura town and she was left to sit in the sidelines with nothing but questions as to what was happening.

Tatsuki opened her eyes, no longer afraid but enraged with purpose and dedication. This was her chance to change positions from spectator to athlete and she was not going to die here. As Tatsuki opened her eyes and turned around she saw her boomerang, now bright red and glowing flying above her face. It had zoomed back with great speed, and protected her from the bolts. Tatsuki now understood how this boomerang worked…she could control it with her heart. She realized that she could quite literally _will_ it to move, and it would. The young warrior smile as she once again grabbed the boomerang, she did not want to reveal to her adversary that she knew this truth about her weapon. As she clenched her boomerang with her left hand, she looked over to her left arm which was now completely covered in stone. It hurt terribly, and Tatsuki knew she did not have much time left. This next attack could be her last, so she needed to make it count.

Tatsuki once again ran towards the lion and threw her boomerang towards him. The beast growled as it was going to once again dodge the same attack it had for the last several minutes. This was exactly what Tatsuki had intended to happen. As the lion jumped in the air, she willed her boomerang to shift trajectory and move towards him. Tatsuki's face shifted to a large and hopeful smile as the blade of the boomerang made contact with the beast's skin and cut it softly.

The lion's wound opened up and the blood that flowed from the cut began to glow and swirl around it's lower left side and Tatsuki watched as the blood began spelling out a word on the lion's chest. She quickly recognized this word as the Zanpakuto's name. All around her the world began to be engulfed in flames.

"Tatsuki…Arisawa…" The lion's roar was now not being heard in this dissipating world, but in Tatsuki's own heart. "You have shown me your great power and resolve. I will walk beside you and lend my power to you when you need me. We will grow stronger together, and all who come in our way will be engulfed with the fires of my power and your heart. Simply call, and I will return to you whenever you ask."

"Thank you…" Tatsuki thought as the world faded to white as her mind began shifting back into reality, she now knew her Zanpakuto's name…"Thank You, Simba."

* * *

The next thing Tatsuki knew she was standing back in Urahara's basement, which was made to look like a vast desert. She was no longer in the hole, but standing in front of Ichigo. Tatsuki first noticed several large fragments of bone fell from her arm to the ground and shattered. The girl breathed easy knowing that she had beaten the hollow transformation. Then, the new soul reaper noticed her mentor Ichigo staring at her with a look of great confusion.

"What is it Ichigo?" Tatsuki asked, her voice full of fatigue.

"Your soul reaper uniform…" Ichigo spoke softly, "It looks differently than every one I have seen? Ours are all black…why is yours red?"

Well now…" A voice was heard from behind Ichigo. Both he and Tatsuki quickly looked in the direction of the voice to see Kisuke Urahara examining Tatsuki's new soul reaper transformation. "This is certainly a sight that I did not expect to see…How very interesting. Tatsuki, your transformation definitely adds a new dynamic to things."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **_After a long wait, here's chapter 8! It's a little longer then the others, and I hope it's worth the wait and length! A gentle reminder, that I still don't own Bleach._

* * *

**Chapter 8**

"Well, well well…" Kisuke Urahara spoke as he sat around his living room table with his trusted team of Karakura Town defenders. "It seems we have a lot of catching up to do."

When he had returned to the world of the living, the first thing Urahara noticed was the familiar spiritual pressure of Rukia Kuchki and Renji Abarai. He quickly found the two soul reapers and asked them to return to his shop with him. Then, when Urahara stepped into his basement to observe the training he had asked Ichigo to put Tatsuki through, he discovered something very unusual. As she rose from the hole as a soul reaper, Tatsuki's robe was not black like an ordinary soul. It was indeed crimson red.

As Tatsuki and Ichigo entered the room, in soul form per request of Kisuke, Renji and Rukia both had astonished looks on their faces as they observed Tatsuki. Urahara knew this would be the case, so he decided to address all the concerns that were circling this room. "First of all, Tatsuki's soul reaper appearance is something of a mystery."

"What's so special about it?" Tatsuki inquired, "So my robe looks different, big deal?"

"Oh it is a big deal indeed." Urahara spoke with great seriousness in his voice. "You and Ichigo are humans, so you wouldn't know this…but in the spirit world there are great legends about extraordinary soul reapers that arise once every millennium or two. From how the stories go that souls share with their children, these special soul reapers appear in red clothing, and only appear when existence is about to face a terrible threat. I have to say, I never have had much stock in this folklore, but then again I've never seen a soul reaper in a red kimono before either."

"It is…quite unbelievable." Rukia said, still in awe as she stared at Tatsuki's uniform.

"I don't know," Renji spoke as he rubbed his chin with a puzzled look, "It seems to me that we've never dealt with a threat as terrible as Aizen from what I know about the Soul Society…If this legend thing was true, then shouldn't Ichigo be the one with the red clothing since he was the one that beat Aizen?"

"I hate to say it…" Urahara spoke, also considering this theory. "But in the grand scheme of the history of the spirit world, Hueco Mundo, and the world of the living…Aizen was just one dark chapter in a book full of many dark sections. We have seen our fair share of villains in history, and some were even worse than Aizen. So, there's that…"

The group simply gazed at one and other in silence as they considered this strange phenomena. Tatsuki didn't know what to think. She definitely didn't FEEL like she was some super savior of mankind, even though she could feel her newfound soul reaper powers radiating through her. It was like deep in her soul a new room was open up and now her Zanpakuto, Simba resided there waiting to fight alongside her the next time the need arose. Before the new soul reaper could consider this anymore, Kisuke shifted the team's gears to another subject.

"I also have returned from the soul society with new information regarding Orihime's killer…" Urahara spoke, knowing this would be a very painful subject for both Tatsuki and Ichigo. "His name is Cedric Ares, and he is a former soul reaper of Squad 2. Roughly about 500 years ago, Cedric Ares was banished from the Soul Society to a prison in Hueco Mundo due to the fact that he wielded a forbidden Zanpakuto named Osafu and refused to give it up to the Seireitei."

"Cedric Ares…" Tatsuki and Ichigo almost simultaneously muttered the name of the assassin who took their dear friend away from them. It was the first time either had heard this name. For the name of a complete stranger, it held so much weight.

"We were briefed about his crimes in the world of the living." Renji spoke now. "Apparently, when he murdered Orihime, he withdrew from her soul the Hell Stone. From what Captain Commander Yamamoto was saying this is one of the three artifacts used to create a portal to the Void, a top secret prison located in Hell for the Spirit World's most terrible criminals in history."

"Renji, aren't you risking a lot to be sharing this information with us?" Ichigo asked. He didn't mind his friend's insight on the matter, but he knew how rigid the rules of the soul society were. It surprised him that Renji was able to so easily give away such high priority information to them. It was very uncharacteristic for a soul reaper to be giving this much detail to "mere" humans, as they would see it.

"It's like this, Ichigo…" Rukia explained, "Years ago, after the mess that happened in Hueco Mundo…involving Orihime's kidnapping and all of what happened with Aizen…Renji and I believed that withholding information from you and Urahara in order to protect the Soul Society usually would endanger our friends here, and Karakura Town. When the great battle with Aizen ended, we promised each other that without the Soul Society's knowledge, when issues arise that effect the human world, and you…we would be 100% honest, and withhold nothing. You all may be just humans to the Soul Society, but to me and Renji, you're our friends."

"That…means so much…" Tatsuki spoke softly. She didn't personally know Rukia very well, but from what Ichigo had said before, the soul reaper became very close with Orihime. Tatsuki was intrigued by this relationship because from the looks of it, the two women were close but both had strong feelings for the same man. The way she saw it, if Orihime could consider Rukia a close friend despite their mutual interest in Ichigo, then this woman must be a very good soul. Rukia's previous comment definitely backed up Tatsuki's theory.

"As I was saying before Rukia got all mushy, " Renji continued, "The Hell Stone, which can only be held by this ancient gauntlet which Cedric must of somehow obtained, if it is broken in the Blood Chalice, then a portal to the Void is open. I don't know why this rogue soul reaper would want to go there, but with his Zanpakuto spirit considering itself the "enemy of soul reapers" we can only assume he means to cause harm to the Soul Society."

"So it's settled…" Ichigo hit his fists on the table as he stood up. His eyes weren't filled with justice and protection, like usual. They had their fill of anger and vengeful resolve. "We find Cedric Ares, and put a stop to him before he has the chance to enter this Void."

"Ichigo it isn't that simple…" Urahara spoke softly, empathizing for his formal student, "After learning about Cedric's story…before I returned here, I paid a visit to Hueco Mundo myself, and checked out the secluded prison that Ares was held in. It's quite the masterpiece. From what I could tell, there is quite literally no way that someone sent into that prison can escape on their own…someone, must have let him out…We have no information right now on who it is that released Cedric, or why are wanting to visit the Void?"

"All the more reason we need to take care of that guy before he can open a gate to the Void!" Ichigo exclaimed, frustration boiling in his voice. "I'm done talking about it…for almost a month we've just sat here and done nothing while Cedric has been getting what he needs to go to Hell and do God knows what! I…I can't take it anymore! He killed Orihime, for all for some stupid stone that was placed in her chest! She didn't ask for it…why the hell did someone put that stone in her chest? And why couldn't I protect her? No...No more talking, now that I know who it is, I'm going to find Cedric and I'm going to kill him!"

"Ichigo!" Rukia stood up to try to settle her friend down, but before she could he shoved past her and ran out the door.

"Let him go," Urahara spoke solemnly, "That's been boiling up for a while in Ichigo. He has done such a good job keeping it together to help release Tatsuki's soul and awaken her Zanpakuto in my absence. He needs this time…besides, there is more that you all need to hear…"

* * *

Two hours later, the meeting disbanded and everyone thought it was a good idea to find Ichigo and see if he was okay. Tatsuki didn't need to ask anyone for help, she had a hunch that she knew exactly where Ichigo would be. As the soul reapers parted ways, Tatsuki made her way to the road by Karakura Lake.

As the sun was setting Tatsuki looked over the road rail to see the orange haired soul reaper back in his human body, wearing a white shirt and jeans, staring deep into the water that reflected all shades of red, orange and yellow. For Tatsuki it felt as if she stepped in a time warp and teleported ten years ago, back to shortly after Ichigo's mom passed away.

She remembered walking home from martial arts training one day and finding Ichigo in this very same spot, crying his eyes out. He was a different Ichigo then. He wasn't strong, he was but a child, full of love and innocence. He was broken when his mom died, and was never again the innocent child he once was. Tatsuki's heart broke as she sat down next to this crying child and did her best as an 8 year old girl to console him. This was the start of their friendship. As someone that had also lost her parents, Tatsuki wanted nothing more back then than to be there to support Ichigo. Seeing him that day years ago, deeply saddened her.

Tatsuki's heart broke once again for her childhood friend as she watched him peer out at the bay, his eyes filling with tears. She hated herself for being so wrapped up with her own vengeful plot of getting back to Orihime's killer that she didn't once consider Ichigo's feelings or concerns with the same matter. The two high schoolers were incredibly alike. They thought on the same wave length, so Tatsuki reasoned that Kurosaki most likely was feeling all the same emotions that she was, except he had taken time away from his mourning to care for her. Tatsuki cursed herself once more realizing that once again, someone felt the need to protect _her_.

The girl wearing a yellow hoodie and white training sweats sat down on the side of the slanted hill with Ichigo. It was her time to care for him, just as he had for the past month for her.

"Orihime," Tatsuki spoke softly to his friend, "You know she loved you right Ichigo?"

Ichigo said nothing.

"Of course she always had a crush on you since we were kids." Tatsuki spoke as she looked out at the water, "But back then, it was just a child's thing…to her you were just the cute boy at school she would timidly smile at in class and occasionally have a light hearted conversation with. But then all this…soul reaper stuff happened. Rukia came into your life, and changed everything about you…but then you changed everything about a lot of them, didn't you? Chad, Uyru, and Orihime of course. Something awoken in her once she got involved in all this…Looking back, she told me about her trip to the Soul Society before I even knew what it was. I didn't catch it then, but looking back she spoke about it with such amazement and passion. That place changed her. And her power that you told me about, it gave her means to unlock a strength in her that I don't even think she knew she had…Yes, things all changed. I can't imagine what it was like for her in Hueco Mundo when she was abducted…but you were there for her, weren't you? And that made it okay…for Orihime as long as she was around you, here in the land of the living…the soul society…Hueco Mundo…wherever, as long as she was with you, she was happy. My soul sister would travel to the other side of the universe to be near you, Ichigo, I know it. What started out from just a girl's crush, through all the shared experiences you all had…it became a deep and passionate love."

Ichigo cringed as he thought about his fallen friend.

"I don't know if you have the same feelings for her Kurosaki, and maybe you don't even know…but she was a gift in your life…and you know what, you were a gift in her life as well, Ichigo!"

"You don't think I know that?" Ichigo asked, anguish filling his voice, "Orihime always wanted to be part of this life, even though I tried so hard to keep her away from it. She always wanted to be on the frontlines, no matter how dangerous it was. And I could always protect her. Even when Aizen abducted her and brought her to the world of the Hollows, I was able to go there and save her life…I always could, but not this time. No, this time before I even knew Orihime was in danger, that monster ripped the stone from her soul and killed her...And I was nowhere to be found, I was useless."

"Not entirely useless…" Tatsuki spoke, now tears filling her eyes, "If you hadn't shown up when you did I would be dead too. Ichigo, I never thanked you for saving my life…and after knowing everything about you that I do now, I know I will never have to…but thank you!"

"I'm going to find that Cedric Ares…" Ichigo's fist clenched as he thought of his enemy.

"We're going to find him…" Tatsuki corrected, her eyes filling with hurt as she thought of her best friend's assassin. "We're in this together Ichigo, we were the minute you ripped me from my soul chain. Listen, after you left Urahara told us more about what Cedric Ares is doing. Apparently, Urahara concludes that this Blood Chalice that Cedric needs is not in the world of the living. If it was, he'd have it by now and we'd have noticed a gate to the Void open for sure. No…he's going to go to the Soul Society and find out who has the Chalice inside them, like Orihime had the Hell Stone…then he'll have his next target."

"I wish we knew who had that chalice…" Ichigo thought hard, praying the answer would just appear to him

"Urahara has a theory…" Tatsuki explained to Ichigo what Urahara had said to the group after he had left.

"_Our first priority needs to be finding Cedric's next target and protecting him from the rogue soul reaper." Urahara had said, back in his living room two hours earlier. "I have a theory, and it's only a theory…but I think it's a good one. On the way back from Hueco Mundo, I asked myself, what made Orihime so special that she could contain such a terrible relic such as the Hell Stone. The only answer that I could come up with is her time reversal and negation power. This is a truly unique gift that I have seen only once before…in the former vice-leader of the kido-corps, Hachigen Ushoda."_

"Hachi!" Ichigo exclaimed with great concern as Tatsuki recited the past day's conversation to her. "Urahara thinks he is the keeper of the Blood Chalice within him?"

"It's just a theory…" Tatsuki replied, "But I think it's a pretty good one. Think about it, Orihime has the same powers as him, and she didn't know she possessed the Hell Stone…maybe he doesn't know that he has that Chalice in his soul?"

"I have to get to Hachi…" Ichigo stood up.

"Wait…" Tatsuki jumped up and grabbed Ichigo's arm, causing him to stop and turn back to look her in the eye, "Kisuke Urahara alerted the soul society with the hopes that they'd send people to protect this guy…and he's making preparations now to create a portal to the Soul Society. It should be a day or two, he said…I was hoping while we waited that you'd continue to train me to use my Zanpakuto."

"Tatsuki…" Ichigo paused, as he wanted to choose his words carefully. He knew there was no right way of telling her that he'd rather go off on his own then take the time to train her to prepare for a fight she'd surely die in.

"Look I get it…" Tatsuki interrupted, "I'm brand new to this soul reaper thing…and you've been doing it for years to reach the level you're at, and apparently this Cedric guy is at a similar level so there's no way I could defeat him…but, I don't know, I just FEEL like I need to try to grasp this power in me. I can't explain it, maybe all soul reapers have it…but I know there is more to my Zanpakuto then what I know now, and I think you can help me draw it out! I want to be the one that kills this guy Ichigo, and I know you do too…and I also know that you probably will get to do it before I can, but I just want to be there when you do it…I want to be able to help you, and not get in the way…Orihime died protecting him, and I never wanted you to protect me either…I just want to stand on my own two feet and protect my friends from monsters like Cedric Ares…and I know you're the same way Ichigo, which is why you'll help train me, right?"

"Tatsuki…" Ichigo spoke her name as he looked down and considered what she said, "Orihime would have wanted to be with me through this too…and since she can't, I think she'd want you to be there in her place…Alright then. Two days? That's not very much time, but I think I can help you figure out the basics in that time."

Tatsuki hugged Ichigo, as the two embraced Tatsuki whispered in his ear as tears filled her eyes. "Thank you Ichigo…Finding this man, and trying to stop him is the only thing that is giving my life meaning right now."

* * *

From a distance, Kisuke Urahara stood on top of his rooftop and watched the two young soul reapers. He didn't know awaited the two of them as the time for battle closed in. Tatsuki's strange red soul reaper transformation was definitely something that had peeked Urahara's curiosity. Could this have anything to do with Cedric Ares or the dangerous people in Hueco Mundo that released him? Urahara didn't believe in folklore like legendary soul reaper saviors, but even more so then that, Kisuke didn't believe in coincidence. It seemed to be no accident that Tatsuki's soul transformation became crimson as someone was drawing close to unlocking the Void. Kisuke sighed with unease, he had a bad feeling about this entire situation.

* * *

_Please let me know what you think! I am working to improve the story as I write it and any feedbacks and/or ideas would be greatly appreciated. As always, thank you so much for reading!_


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

In the past couple days, unknown to most the world of the living, Earth was under a massive hollow attack. Ichigo and his gang, along with his new apprentice Tatsuki were constantly on the move fighting off several hollows of varying skill levels that appeared all over Karakura Town. As soon as one of the beast's spiritual pressure was noticed by Ichigo, Tatsuki, Rukia, Renji, Chad, or Uryu, they would quickly move towards their foe and quickly dispose of them. With openings appearing all over Karakura town, each warrior was hoping that they would be able to finally lay eyes on Orihime's killer, Cedric Ares.

Also, in the two days, Ichigo regularly sparred with Tatsuki to do his best to increase her spiritual pressure and skill with the Zanpakuto as much as he could before Kisuke's portal to the Soul Society was ready. He hadn't trained this rigorously since he was with his Zanpakuto, Zangetsu learning his final attack to defeat Aizen.

As the two sparred rigorously in Urahara's basement training grounds, Ichigo noticed a significant increase in Tatsuki's power and skill. Her dedication to grow stronger was unparalleled, and she was an incredibly quick learner. She communicated well with her Zanpakuto, Simba. It's Shinkai appeared as a large golden yellow boomerang. It wasn't long before Tatsuki learned that she could throw the boomerang and control its movement with her own spirit energy. As the training progressed, Tatsuki also learned that she could hop on her own boomerang and rush towards her opponent, flying on the boomerang and attacking with her martial arts. Ichigo quickly learned that Tatsuki's weakness was when she ran out of spiritual energy. If she lost control of the boomerang due to exhausting her spiritual pressure, any experienced foe would be able to overcome her easily. The two trained non-stop for two days and Ichigo watched as Tatsuki grew stronger and stronger. Before long, he noticed that his apprentice had become more powerful than he was back when entered the Soul Society the first time to rescue Rukia Kuchki. Ichigo had 10 days of extensive training to reach this level. To see his apprentice and childhood friend reach his level in less than two days was truly astounding. Ichigo had never felt anything like Tatsuki's spiritual pressure. It was as if he was training a powerful dragon who had not yet realized the true beast it really was.

It was midway through their second day of training that the two's sparing was interrupted by the two sensing a very unusual spiritual presence. Tatsuki was lunging down off a large cliff towards Ichigo with her massive bladed boomerang Zanpakuto. The orange haired man quickly blocked the blade with his own, and before he could counter attack Ichigo stopped and turned backwards. Both felt the disturbance.

"Is that…another hollow?" Tatsuki asked, breathing heavily. "Because I'm ready to go out there and take out another one. They are getting way easy now."

"That's not a Hollow…" Ichigo replied, his voice grave with concern, "Oh dear God, this is the worst possible time for this crap again…"

Tatsuki had no chance to ask another question before Ichigo flash stepped out of the basement. Tatsuki was annoyed with this movement as she had not yet mastered the flash step yet. With a huff of anger at her mentor for leaving her, Tatsuki moved quickly out of the basement as well with her much less perfected flash step. (The young lady did not have any idea how impressive it was to everyone how close she had come to obtaining the flash step in less than two days.)

Ichigo had made it to the spot in Karakura Forest where the gate from the soul society opened. He watched as the Edo style gates appeared and began to open. Ichigo cursed under his breath as he saw the three figures that appeared.

"Ichigo Kurosaki!" The young princess, Rurichiyo Kasumiōji exclaimed with great joy as she saw her friend and one time body guard. "How good it is to see that you have come to properly greet me at my time of arrival in the world of the living! I can see your ability to sense spiritual pressure has gotten a lot better since we last met."

"Rurichiyo!" Ichigo exclaimed, terrified at the potential risk that the young ruler had created by appearing in the world of the living at this time. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Mind your manners, substitute soul reaper!" Kenryu, one of the princess's retainers quickly corrected Ichigo. "Lady Rurichiyo will not put up with your continued rudeness, and I will not remind you again."

"I don't have time for all that crap!" Ichigo exclaimed, somewhat frantically. "You guys CAN'T be here right now! The amount of danger you're in…"

"I don't understand…" the blonde haired princess shook her head in confusion, "Does this have anything to do with mass increase we've had of hollow sightings in the soul society? I'll have you know, that my faithful servants, Kenryu and Enryu have done a superb job protecting, and they will continue to do so…Please Ichigo, calm down. I came here when I heard news in the soul society of the death of Orihime Innoue…please, Ichigo, tell me is this true?"

Ichigo's frantic response to Rurichiyo's arrival subsided as his heart filled with sadness once more. Orihime had gotten along very well with Lady Rurichiyo back when she spent some time in the world of the living hiding from villainous assassins. For a girl so young, hearing the news of her death would be a terrible burden indeed.

"Oh, I am terribly sorry about that…" A voice was heard in the nearby bushes. The entire crew turned around to see a man appear with spikey purple hair, a red bandana covering most his face, blood red eyes, who was slowly twirling the blade of his sword which was attached by a chain to a hilt that was shaped like a gun. Ichigo instantly knew that the man they were looking upon was none other than the elusive Cedric Ares. "You see, little girl, I was the one that killed your friend. I needed a stone that was lodged in her soul, so I had to kill her to get it. The irony in all this is that I need another item, that is in the soul society…and by you coming to see your dead friend, I'm finally able to return the soul society to retrieved it. I can't decide if I should apologize for giving you so much pain, or thank you for making my life easier!"

"Cedric Ares…" Ichigo spoke as his eyes narrowed and he raised his blade towards the assassin. Spiritual Pressure was radiating around the substitute soul reaper's body in a light blue aura, as he spoke. "You're going to pay for what you did to Orihime!"

Ichigo lunged forward readying his blade to slash his enemy down in one blow. Cedric jumped backwards the orange haired warrior attempted to slice him in half. Cedric moved aside, with a cocky grin on his face as he continued to taunt his foe.

"To slow!" The rogue soul reaper spoke as he moved backwards and readied his blade for an attack. He threw his blade in the air, the chain link suppressed itself, bringing the strange gunblade into an normal sword state, with the blade connected to the hilt. Cedric eyes raged with power and ambition as he swung at the air with a wicked smile. He pulled the trigger on the gun part of his sword as he yelled the name of his attack. "Wind Slash!"

Ichigo braced himself as a power gust of wind appeared and blew him. He recognized this style of attack, it was similar to his Getsuga Tenshou but with wind energy. As the powerful slash hit Ichigo's own Zanpakuto he was shocked at how powerful this attack was. The sheer force alone pushed him back into several trees, he busted through three of them as he defended against the wind wave.

As the substitute soul reaper struggled with the wind slash, Cedric turned his attention back to Lady Rurichiyo, he moved forward as her two body guards drew their swords and readied themselves for battle. The former soul reaper narrowed his eyes in annoyance, realizing the two foes were about to try and attack him. In one quick flash step, Cedric appeared next to the agile noble, Kenryu, and the massive mound of muscle, Enryu. He cut deep into the side of Kenyru, as he elbowed the large Enryu in the neck with all of his force. Then with two spinning kicks, he knocked both body guards into opposing directions and out of his way completely. Rurichiyo backed slowly into a tree, and a dead end as the mysterious assailant closed in on her.

"What…what is it you want with me, you terrible fiend?" Rurichiyo demanded, standing strong in the face of certain death.

"It doesn't matter how long I have been exiled from the Soul Society," Cedric said with a manic smile, as he reached his hand into the princess's pink kimono and withdrew a small ornate blade, "All you old world royal clans haven't changed at all! Each noble always carries their own key back to their own personal gate to the soul society. Thanks kid, I needed to find a way into the Spirit World so I think I'm just going to take this dagger!"

"Get away from her!" Ichigo roared as he rushed towards Cedric once more.

"Still have the resolve to fight me, do you?" Cedric spoke as he turned around, wind beginning to swirl around his Zanpakuto, Osafu. "Cyclone Vortex!"

Out of the ground under Ichigo, a massive tornado rose, trapping the strong fighter. Ichigo let out a loud cry of pain as the winds spinning rapidly around him, slashing his skin. He was trapped, and unable to stop Cedric. After trapping his main opponent, and making sure the princess's body guards were down for the count, Cedric looked back at the young princess.

"You are not a soul reaper, and your whole appearance in the world of the living has given me a way into the soul society." Cedric said glaring at the terrified young lady, "I owe you one kid, and so I'm not going to kill you. Thanks for the knife!"

Stepping away from Lady Rurichiyo, Cedric stabbed the knife into air using his own spirit energy combined with the mystic item to create a rift into space and opening a portal to the spirit world. Upon saying the magic word, "open", two edo style doors appeared and begun to open with light shining from the other side. The rogue soul reaper smiled as he felt in his heard, thanks to the stole Hell Gauntlet that he wore the presence of the keeper of the Blood Chalice was definitely in the other world. It was as if Cedric was taking a step closer to food he was desperately craving for. He knew it wouldn't be long before he had each artifact he sought and would be able to open a portal to the Void. All his hard work would finally produce labor. Cedric began walking into the gate, but turned back abruptly as he heard the enraged scream of a woman leaping from the shadows towards him with murderous intent.

Out of the bushes, Tatsuki appeared with Simba drawn and in boomerang form. Moving as fast as she could, she came very close to landing a killing blow to Cedric who just barely stepped out of the way of her blade. He was very surprised as he looked at the soul reaper in front of him with a red outfit.

"_This woman…"_ Cedric thought to himself, _"Wasn't she the human with the orange haired girl who held the Hell Stone? Last time I saw her, she could barely move next to my spiritual pressure…that's right, then she became enraged and slowly began to stand. What is this now, did she become a soul reaper?"_

"Hahaha!" Cedric laughed as he moved backwards, completely dodging Tatsuki's surprise attack, "Oh dear, did you become a soul reaper to avenge your friend's death? What a complete waste of time! There is no way in Hell that you could ever be at my level! I've been at this for longer than over 500 years, kid…What a sad and futile attempt!"

"I'm going to kill you!" Tatsuki raged as she radiated with red spiritual pressure as she swung her boomerang a second time towards Cedric, who took this attack much more seriously than the last one. He blocked it with his sword, and quickly moved his blade to slash Tatsuki in the chest diagonally, causing her a massive wound that began to surge with blood spilling from her body.

Tatsuki fell to the ground as her near fatal blow caused her to lose a dangerous amount of blood. Cedric looked at the soul reaper with much disdain and repulsion as he sheafed his weapon and stepped over her damaged body and back into the portal to the soul society. "How utterly pathetic…it doesn't matter what color your outfit is. I hate soul reapers so much."

Tatsuki heard her enemy's words sink into her soul as she closed her eyes barely holding on to consciousness, as Cedric moved past her and into the portal. As she struggled to maintain her own life, deep within her mind she heard a familiar majestic voice beckon to her, _"Get up! Don't give up now, girl!"_ Tatsuki's eyes quickly opened up as she found new strength to keep moving. She jumped back to her feet, as blood spilled from her body and leapt towards the assassin just as the doors to the gate were closing. She barely made it in, but was able to make it through the gate into the soul society.

As Cedric left the world of the living, his power controlling the vortex trapping Ichigo dissipated and the substitute soul reaper was free. He rushed towards Lady Rurichiyo to make sure his young friend was undamaged. The princess in turn pointed at her injured body guards, who though they protected her valiantly, were hardly a match for the soul reaper.

Ichigo wiped away the tears from Rurichiyo's eyes as she leaned over the body of her guardian, Kenryu who had a non-life threatening, but very bloody, cut in the stomach. "Don't worry Lady Rurichiyo, we'll get them the help they need to recover quickly.'

Ichigo's eyes then went back to where the portal was, "I hope Urahara has that gate to the Soul Society up now, because after I make sure these two are okay…I'm going to save Tatsuki, and stop Cedric! I just hope I'm not to late…"

* * *

**A/N: **_It really bugged me in the Bleach series how the princess saga was just a random piece of Bleach storyline that didn't apply at all to the rest of the plot...I enjoyed it, but I didn't enjoy how it wasn't canon at all...So I wanted to bring the characters in a minor way into my story for a chapter! Rest easy, my "Princess Arc Haters", I don't foresee them having much more of a role, if any in the rest of the plot of my fanfic. What'd you think of the 3rd appearance of my OC Cedric Ares? He'll be in Chapter 10 for another exciting battle, and boy you will NOT want to miss it!_


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

It was a bright, beautiful, and sunny day in the spirit world. Fairly far from the Soul Society, deep within a dense forest secluded from civilization, Hachigen Ushoda known to his friends as Hachi, left his log cabin to take a walk. On nice days like this, Hachi enjoyed being outside in nature, feeling the fresh air on his face, smelling the flowers, and watching the wildlife in this forest. The former vice leader of the kido corps was so happy when Captain Commander Yamamoto lifted the ban of himself and the rest of the Visored from the spirit world after Aizen's defeat. The large round man with short pink hair, and a light pink mustache enjoyed the world of the living, but to him nothing could compare to the lush nature of the spirit world. Everything, from the buildings to the trees, was seeping with Reiatsu and being in it's presence was very appealing to any spiritually aware soul.

Hachi closed his eyes peacefully as he walked down one of his favorite trails, taking in the smells and feelings of the day. Suddenly, the large man abruptly stopped, opened his eyes, turned his head to the left, and with a stern look spoke out to the strange and threatening presence he felt nearby.

"Come on out!" Hachi beckoned to the trees, "I am well aware that I am not alone in this forest."

From behind a tree, Cedric Ares calmly walked into the kido master's sight. He gave a small cocky smile as he spoke to his target, praising him for his ability to sense him.

"Well, well well…You wouldn't have been able to sense me unless you knew to keep an eye out for my spiritual pressure. You know, we're awfully far from the Soul Society. It took me a while to find you out here in the middle of nowhere."

"I have gone through great lengths to stay hidden." Hachi responded calmly, "I am curious sir…who are you and how did you find me? Also, why is It you have gone through such great lengths to find me?"

Cedric, amused by the question chuckled a little to himself as he replied. "I don't see any point in introducing myself to someone who I am about to kill, it's not like we can go out for coffee later and chat about our first impressions of each other, right? As far as why I am here and how I found you…they are very connected."

Cedric raised his arm, showing his left hand wearing a shiny silver gauntlet with sharp talons as fingers, as he continued to speak. "This is called the Hell Gauntlet, it tracks down ancient artifacts I need to reach the Void, a prison in Hell for the worst criminals in the history of the Soul Society. As soon as I put it on its power linked with mine, and it led me to you because deep inside your body, you contain the last piece I need to open a portal to the Void. "

"I see…" Hachi reflected on these words, showing no appearance of any fear of his foe. "How very strange of you. You refuse to tell me your name because you claim you will be killing me shortly. And then, you take time to speak to me in details about what you are doing here."

"Good point," Cedric spoke as he shrugged, and raised his blade and pointed it towards Hachi. "I guess I just wanted someone to know how much work I've had to do to get to this point! Fair enough...I'll cater to your needs, as they will be the last ones you ever have…My name is Cedric Ares, I am an enemy to the Soul Reapers and by opening a portal to the Void and releasing its prisoners, I will be doing my part to destroy the Soul Society."

Cedric paused before attacking Hachi and spoke once more. "Before we get this over with, I am interested in knowing how you knew I'd be coming for you? I pride myself in my ability to discretely work and get the job done."

"Simply put…" A voice was heard somewhere in the vicinity of Cedric and Hachi, "You aren't as discrete as you like to think you are."

In a quick motion, the captain of the 5th squad, Shinji Hirako appeared in between Cedric Ares and Hachi, with his Zanpakuto drawn and pointed at the rogue soul reaper. Cedric was surprised to see this foe, and also interested in why he was dressed in human clothes. Shinji wore khaki pants and a tucked in orange button down shirt.

"We knew you were coming, and put together a little welcoming party to give you the…proper greeting." Shinji spoke a malicious voice with a smile, revealing large front teeth.

"A welcoming party?" Cedric asked as he heard three more shadows flash step into the scene, behind him. He turned around and looked up to see standing on sturdy branches of three different trees, Shinji's fellow Visords, Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi, Kensei Muguruma, and Mashiro Kuna. The assassin smiled, as this was not the first attempt in his life of people trying to ambush him. "Now who the hell are you people? And why are you all not wearing soul reaper clothing?"

"If the information we received from Kisuke Urahara is true…" Shinji continued to speak, "You have been out of the Soul Society for 500 years right? Boy, have you missed a lot of interesting stuff."

"Answer my questions!" Cedric impatiently interrupted Shinji, not liking his calm demeanor.

"I'm getting to it…" Shinji rolled his eyes as he responded, "Good lord, nobody told me how annoyingly impatient you are. Like I was saying, about 110 years ago a little accident happened, which through some unfortunate events gave us some interesting powers."

Cedric noticed on each of his foes, counting Hachi, strange masks resembling the faces of hollows appearing on the tops of the heads of all his enemies. He had remembered long ago hearing stories of Hollowfication, where soul reapers would be able to get the powers of a Hollow. Fascinated, Cedric grinned with excitement at this fascinating development in the folks before him. In truth, in the past 500 years Cedric considered himself more like minded to Hollows then Soul Reapers, the idea of becoming one seemed like nothing more than a lofty dream or fairy tale to him.

"It's a good thing we're going to kill you…" Shinji replied, his voice full of seriousness and murderous intent, "Because Old Man Yamamoto himself forbids us to use such powers…but we're pretty far away from the Soul Society, and you're threatening the safety of one of our own, _and_ you killed Orihime Innoue….who was a very special girl!"

Cedric found himself temporarily stunned as all four Visoreds dawned their mask and increased their spiritual pressure tremendously. In a quick moment, escaped captive from Hueco Mundo regained his composure and summoned the Shikai of his Zanpakuto."

"Run like the wind, Osafu!"

As Moshiro and Kensei moved quickly off their trees to try to strike Cedric, the wielder of the wind Zanpakuto moved even faster and jumped high into the air, dodging their attacks. From high in the sky, Cedric looked down at his four enemies and knew he would need to split their attention if he wanted any chance of getting to the keeper of the Blood Chalice.

The Visoreds were shocked to see how quickly Cedric could move as he dodged the attacks towards him and flew into the air. The looked up to see him smiling back down at them.

"You all have no idea how much I envy you!" Cedric spoke, "Those masks…so you were exiled to the human world because you became better than a mere soul reaper with those hollow powers? And then am I to gather that the four of you foolishly returned to this place to regain your place in their little kingdom, like a dog returns to its own vomit? Why? You're clearly superior! I had heard of hollowfication before and I had always hoped if I met someone with your abilities, I'd be able to befriend them. If anyone is to understand how disgusting a soul reaper is, I would think it'd be a soul reaper that has felt the glory of a Hollow. You see, after being exiled into Hueco Mundo and residing there for so many centuries my eyes have been opened to the evils of the soul society. I have met true power, and it has welcomed me home as its own. Sure, they never gave me a cool mask like yours…but I have something else."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Shinji asked. The captain watched as Cedric pulled a flute out of his tunic made out of hollow bone.

"Did you know in Hueco Mundo there is a place called Menos Forest?" Ares spoke, with an evil grin on his face. "It's a forest, much like this…completely infested with millions of Menos! Around the Soul Society and the World of the Living, if you see one that's a sight…just imagine seeing thousands! It's truly beautiful…and this little flute, why it opens up a portal from wherever I play to the Menos Forest. And after that, well, let's just say the Menos get very curious to see what's on the other side."

"He can't be serious…" Kensei muttered as he raised his fists in the air ready for another attack.

"I'm not much of a musician…" Cedric continued his tangent, "But maybe you all can appreciate the beauty of what's about to happen next!"

Cedric closed his eyes as he focused his spiritual pressure into his hands as he began playing the Menos Flute. The music was so loud, as if coming from the heavens. The notes themselves were very low and haunting, as if Satan himself was playing the flute. As the melody continued, a large black rip in space appeared behind Cedric. Several giant Menos Grandes began clawing their way through the portal that Cedric opened.

"There has to be at least 20 or 30 of them!" Rōjūrō, Rose for short, exclaimed as he readied his blade. "We need to dispose of them quickly before they scatter throughout the spirit world!"

"You three go," Shinji ordered his comrades, "Me and Hachi can take care of this guy…"

"Perhaps we should handle him with caution." Hachi added from behind Shinji, "Apparently Ichigo had issues keeping him in the world of the living. You of all people should know Ichigo's power."

"Maybe the kid's gone soft since his battle with Aizen." Shinji said with a wry smile, "This guy isn't anything special. He's got a fancy flute that summons hollows, and he's got some pep in his step. I'll slice him to pieces before he even knows what hit him!"

Shinji dropped his sword, which levitated in the air as he spoke his release command. "Collapse, Sakanade**!"**

* * *

Tatsuki opened her eyes and found herself floating in some kind of abyss of swirling purple and black energy. She couldn't move a single bone in her body. She was numb, was unable to look around to survey her surroundings.

"Am I dead?" Tatsuki asked, "No…this can't be the end for me, I can't go this way."

"_What a terrible defeat you faced!" _A majestic voice boomed throughout the endless abyss that Tatsuki's seemingly lifeless body floated in. She instantly recognized the voice as her Zanpakuto, Simba.

"I….I was overpowered…" Tatsuki spoke back, her voice quivering with disgust and shame.

"_Nonsense!"_ The voice bellowed back, the sheer might his tone was enough to frighten Tatsuki. _"You have spent days learning to access my power and used none of it in your duel! Like a selfish child, you rushed in before trying to use any kind of skill at all! How can you claim to be overpowered when you didn't use any of the power you have access to? Little girl, you don't even know the names of the attacks I have given you!"_

"The names…of attacks?" Tatsuki inquired, so confused at what her Zanpakuto was saying to her.

"_If it was up to me…your life would be over." _Simba replied, _"I told you before…I care not of your battles, causes, and reasoning. I live to serve the strong and powerful. The weak will have no place at my side."_

"If…it was up to you?" Tatsuki asked as her body began to be surrounded by an orange glow in the dark purple abyss. She was beginning to feel warmth throughout her entire body, "Who else would it be up to?"

Without any warning, Tatsuki awoke in a field not far from the Rukon district in the spirit world. Of course, she had no idea where she was. As the soul reaper surveyed surroundings she had absolutely no idea how she ended up in the field. Tatsuki rose to her feet and then gasped in shock…her body was perfectly fine, with no blemish whatsoever.

* * *

**A/N: **_What do you think so far? Please let me know! In theory, unless I decide to add more as the story goes, we are about halfway through with this book! The plot will continue and end in the Soul Society. Another gentle reminder, that I still don't own Bleach. Thanks for reading, and please review! _


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

As a black hole ripped open in the sky of the spirit world, numerous Menos Grandes clawed their way out with destructive intent. The former Visored, now reformed Soul Reapers, Rose, Kensei, and Moshiro, flash stepped into the air to meet the giant ghastly terrors. Each with their hollowfied mask equipped, rushed towards the monsters to quickly destroy them before the Menos Grande could get far from the rift into Hueco Mundo.

Rose quickly released the shinkai of his Zanpakuto, the release state of the weapon was a long golden whip. He began spinning the whip rapidly in the air, as he moved, he begun the incantation for a powerful fire kido spell. Rose closed his eyes as he chanted, concentrating very hard on the energy that was flowing into his Zanpakuto. When the musician opened his eyes, his entire whip became red with flame energy. He spun it around himself striking down three Menos Grandes and destroying them in several swift slashes.

Kensei yelled in rage as he flew high into the air towards a group of Menos standing in a line moving away from the fight. The soul reaper focused massive power into his left arm and clenched his fist. Appearing in front of the Menos Grande leading the pack, Kensei punched it square in its massive nose. As he socked him, Kensei also released a powerful Cero energy beam that gushed through the first Menos and also struck the next three. In a flash of dark blue energy, more Menos fell to the powerful Visored.

Using her powerful feet, Moshiro leapt from Menos to Menos kicking them in the fact smashing their masks and eliminating each hollow in one blow. The green haired girl squealed with joy as she would hit each hollow, it had been quite some time since she'd had this much fun. Even as the weakest soul reaper of the three and the only who was not a captain, thanks to her hollowfication, these hollows were no match for Moshiro.

Not far from the Menos slaying, Shinji and Cedric begun their battle. As Shinji released his Zanpakuto, Cedric quickly noticed that everything was not as it should be. He looked up to see the ground, and as he peered down, he saw the sky. It also did not take him long to release if he consciously moved his head up and to the right, it would actually move down and to the left. Every one of his body motions moved in the opposite of what he commanded it to do.

"Welcome to the inverted world." Shinji said with a wry and confident smile. "I think you'll find yourself at a huge disadvantage fighting me once my Zanpakuto is released. With all your senses in reverse, what hope could you possibly have of victory?"

"All of you are so confident…" Cedric spoke, as he tried to get used to the inverse controls of his body. "I know I've been out of touch with the soul society for centuries now, but wasn't Ichigo Kurosaki your strongest? You should know, I easily defeated him back in the world of the living. If he's your strongest, then none of you stand a chance against me."

"That overconfidence will be your downfall, you know." Shinji said softly and seriously. "Let me tell you a little secret about Ichigo Kurosaki. After his spirit energy was restored to him, the Soul Society placed barriers on his spiritual pressure much like they do for the captains or lieutenants when they enter the world of the living."

"What are you trying to say?" Cedric asked, annoyed at this man now and no longer fascinated by his hollowfication. Despite his abilities, it was clear to Ares that this man was way more of a soul reaper then a hollow, which was disappointed to the rogue shingami.

"I'm saying that Ichigo was fighting at you with a 5th of his actual power at best." Shinji said, "It's a good thing I'm going to kill you now, because things would be awfully uncomfortable for you now if he found you here in the spirit world."

"You're full of nothing but hot air and lies!" Cedric sneered as he rose his blade, "Going to kill me, are you? Now who's the overconfident one, friend? Let's finish this up, I have things to do, like killing that fat friend of yours!"

Shinji chuckled as he leapt forward to slash his enemy. Cedric saw the leader of the visored rush forward and instinctively parried to the left. He knew he needed to move to the right however in Shinji's inverted world, and quickly did the correct motion. Unfortunately for Cedric, he was a moment to slow and his arm get cut by Shinji's blade. The wielder of Osafu cussed as blood gushed from his shoulder.

"That's the beauty of Sakanede!" Shinji spoke with pride about his weapon, "The more of a seasoned warrior you are, the better tuned your instincts and battle senses are, which means the harder it is for you to move the correct way in my inverted world. I hate to say it, Mr. Hueco Mundo, but you'd have a better chance against me if this was your first fight ever! As it is, you're a very skilled warrior. Obviously your time being exiled in Hueco Mundo has given you plenty of time to become very powerful. Unfortunately for you, that means you have no chance against me…When you have to think twice about each attack, you're just to slow!"

Shinji readied himself for the killing blow, but became distracted as Cedric Ares began to chuckle first quietly to himself, then visibly out loud. Shinji, once again annoyed at his enemy demanded, "What's so funny?"

"To slow?" Cedric asked his eyes now showing a bit of crazed rage as he looked back at Shinji, "What could you possibly know about speed? Let me show you real speed, and then you'll see how ironic it is that _you_ call _me_ to slow!"

Cedric raised his blade and Shinji watched as wind began to form around the warrior. His eye pupils slowly faded away as power surrounded the assassin. As the wind picked up and started swirl around Cedric in a powerful gust that completely hid him, Shinji heard a word that caused him a small amount of surprised "Bankai."

"Tempest Fury" Cedric spoke as he flew past Shinji so fast that the captain couldn't follow his movements. Unknown to Shinji, Osafu's bankai Tempest Fury would create a very strong gust of wind that would completely cover Cedric and his blade. While in this mystical gust, Cedric is able to move as quickly as the wind at speeds that are so fast that aside from air blowing past one's face, no man can ever detect his movements. It is Cedric's bankai that kept him alive as a skilled thief and assassin for centuries in Hueco Mundo.

Shinji stood in shock and confusion as wind blew past his face, and Cedric was nowhere to be seen. He frantically looked around the sky, realizing that he could no longer feel Cedric's spiritual pressure. Unknown to Shinji, this was a benefit of being surrounded by the Tempest Fury.

Cedric had moved so far away from Shinji that he had escaped the area that his Zanpakuto's aroma could impact. Within a blink, Cedric realized that his world had once again become right side up. The killer sighed gently with relief. Cedric knew that this captain may have been able to best him if it wasn't for his Bankai that allows him to move faster then perhaps anything in existence. Also, with his spirit pressure being completely masked, Cedric knew he could administer the killing blow whenever he wanted. His eyes quickly moved a little to the left as he realized that Shinji's friends were finishing up the last of the hollows summoned with the Menos Flute. He needed to wrap things up quickly, and get that Blood Chalice.

"_What the hell just happened?"_ Shinji wondered as he searched his surroundings trying to sense a trace of Cedric's spiritual pressure. _"His Bankai let him just...turn invisible maybe? No, he's not here, otherwise I could sense it. There was a mighty gust of wind, and then Cedric wasn't here anymore…So he can move away really quickly, which means he is going to be mounting an attack very soon. I have to be on my guard!"_

"Hado 13, Spirit Wall" Hachi yelled from the forest floor below where Shinji and Cedric were fighting. A wide orange barrier appeared around Shinji. "Shinji please excuse my intrusion, but now when your enemy strikes you will be able to see which direction he comes from."

"Smart move, Hachi." Shinji commeted, grateful he had a friend looking out for him. Then Shinji was terrified with reality, as he remembered it was after Hachi this man was after. Without missing a beat, Shinji looked down and yelled at his friend. "No Hachi, make a forcefield around yourself NOW!"

"Oh…" Hachi realized his error in judgment, "Hado 113 Spi…"

"To late!"

Cedric blurred in with a gust of wind and cut Hachi's hand. Shinji flash stepped to the ground and readied to strike his enemy, but Cedric moved past him, let his bandana fly off his face. As the bandana left the mouth of the rogue soul reaper it turned into one of his secret trick weapons, a long sling that he used to wrap up Shinji and throw him into a nearby tree. Cedric's speed as he was able to wrap up Shinji, he moved towards him, allowed him to create a very forceful throw as he let go of one end of the mystical bandana and released Shinji into a tree. The soul reaper's body hit the tree hard and he fell to the ground severely weakened, as the bandana returned to its normal form and Cedric returned it to his face.

"What a dirty trick!" Hachi scalded Cedric as he tried to move his only good hand which now was bleeding. It was unable to be used to command Kido but that didn't stop the former vice leader of the Kido corps. "If you think I need my hands to cast incantations, you are about to be very disappointed!"

"No matter," Cedric replied as his bankai deactivated, "I have you exactly where I want you, tubby!"

The assassin raised his left hand wearing the Hell Gauntlet and it began to glow red. Suddenly Hachi fell to the ground clenching his chest, feeling as if his heart was being pulled out of his own body. In about five very painful seconds, Hachi spent his last moments of life watching as a bloody black chalice was ripped from his body. Cedric grabbed the relic as Hachi's lifeless body hit the ground.

"You bastard!" Kensei spoke as he Rose, and Moshiro flashstepped into the scene surrounding Cedric. "We're going to kill you for that!"

"Now you've just pissed me off even more." Shinji slowly spoke, as he struggled to raise his body up. The impact was so great it had completely destroyed the tree he had hit, and from the feel of it, most of Shinji's bones were broken as well.

"It doesn't matter anymore…" Cedric coolly replied, "I have what I need to go to Hell now!"

"Oh you're going to Hell…" Kensei grumbled as he moved forward with murderous intent.

Cedric pulled the hell stone out of his pocket with his gloved hand and dropped it into the chalice. Within half a second, a dark red and black portal opened up behind him as the stone dissolved into the chalice. Cedric closed his eyes peacefully as the force of the portal sucked him in as well as many nearby trees and stumps. As Cedric retreated into Hell, Shinji and the others were left with their fallen friend, feeling defeated and knowing that this was only the terrible start of events that were about to get way worse.

* * *

Tatsuki journeyed far across the spirit world, making her way into the Rukon District in hopes of finding anyone who could help her find the right way to go. As she entered the city, she saw a poor area full of hurting and hungry folk. It pained Tatsuki to think that this is what the afterlife was like. Her introspective moment was very quickly interrupted by the sound of growls and roars from incoming hollows that had entered from a Hueco Mundo rift. She quickly rushed and jumped in between a large hollow serpent with six arms and a couple of small children who were about to be devoured.

Tatsuki quickly reached to her back to unseat her Zanpakuto and felt very strange. She did not feel its power with her. She glared at the Hollow and yelled the phrase she had discovered unlocked her sword's spirit pressure "Return to Me, Simba!"

Several dozen times back home in the past two days when the hollows attacked, Tatsuki had been able to say this phrase and borrow Simba's power. But in this moment it seemed very clear to the young new soul reaper. Her Zanpakuto was ignoring her. Tatsuki readied herself for a fight as the serpent hollow moved in closer.

* * *

**A/N : **_Thanks so much for reading folks. I didn't feel this chapter was ready yet, but I went through about three different turn of events and finally settled on this one just for the sake of keeping the story progressing. I hope you enjoy it and as always thanks for reading! I still don't own Bleach..._


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